The Lincoln Project will be creating a “transition advisory committee” following calls to shut down amid reports of alleged abuse by one of its co-founders.
“When we launched in December 2019, we committed to defeating Donald Trump at the ballot box and defeating Trumpism more broadly. We accomplished the first goal, but there is still much work to be done,” the executive director, Fred Wellman, wrote in a memo obtained by Politico.
He added, “We are poised to continue to fulfill our promise to our millions of supporters and contributors and carry forward our fight to protect democracy.”
Wellman explained before the group can move forward with its agenda, “we have to get our own house in order.”
He called the internal workplace concerns “troubling and disturbing.” Wellman claimed the organization is working with “other management consultants to address these issues.”
He announced, “To oversee the work of these external consultants and to manage the transition into a sustainable and efficient outfit, we have formed a new Transition Advisory Committee.”
The committee will include at least one member within the community to help with “oversight, planning, and implementation of a new structure” and will not be permanent.
Wellman vowed the committee would “be tasked with providing its full support and cooperation to the internal investigation” into sexual harassment allegations against co-founder John Weaver.
According to Wellman, the group will also “ensure that the proper corrections are made.”
It will also “commission a ‘Stewardship Report’ for our donors that will break down expenditures so that our donors understand how we spent their contributions.”
A report published on Tuesday indicated some members knew about the allegations against Weaver as early as March, as IJR reported.
George Conway, a co-founder of The Lincoln Project, responded to calls for the organization to shut down on Twitter.
“It’s a shame, and we shouldn’t forget the hard work of so many people and the positive things the organization did, but yes, I think this is right,” he wrote.
