Lincoln Project co-founder really, really wants the world to believe he had nothing to do with his group's racist hoax in the Virginia governor's race



Steve Schmidt, the co-founder of the anti-Trump group known as the Lincoln Project, wants Americans to understand that he's not one of the "bad guys" who orchestrated the now-infamous racist hoax against Republican Glenn Youngkin in the days leading up to the Virginia gubernatorial election earlier this month.

Yes, his group launched the attack, Schmidt acknowledged this week, but he promised that he had nothing to do with it.

And he hopes people believe he never would have had anything to do with such "dishonest" activity.

Never mind those reports that the Lincoln Project's leadership knew about and covered up sexual harassment allegations against Schmidt's organization's co-founder John Weaver for more than a year.

Don't pay any attention to his previous admission that he attempted to undermine a female co-founder by publicly disseminating her private conversations with a reporter who was covering the Weaver scandal.

And forget about the fact that tens of millions of the dollars Schmidt's group raised were funneled to firms run by the group's leaders.

No, Americans must believe that he had nothing to do with his group's dishonesty this time. He wants them to rest assured that his hands are clean regarding the Lincoln Project's nasty race hoax where folks pretended to be white supremacists, gathered around Youngkin's campaign bus, and declared their support for the GOP nominee.

In an interview with "America at a Crossroads" on Wednesday, Schmidt decried the "recklessly stupid," "dishonest," and "cheap" trick pulled by the Lincoln Project, claiming that he "learned about it on the news like everybody else and had no involvement with it."

According to Schmidt, he's not been involved with the group's day-to-day efforts since the Georgia special elections in January.

In fact, he claimed he was furious about the Virginia stunt at the time.

"On the one-to-ten scale of being very angry, internally I clocked in at about a 57," Schmidt stated. "And I expressed my opinions internally."

However, as he admitted, he didn't bother to say anything publicly.

Why not say something? Well, according to Schmidt, staying quiet about something that he found horribly outrageous and an example of "appalling judgment" by the group's leadership was preferable to hurting the chances of the Democratic nominee for governor.

"If I did [say something publicly], I knew it would be more of a distraction for [Democratic nominee] Gov. McAuliffe, and I didn't want to do that," Schmidt told the outlet.

"But I thought the action was recklessly stupid, it was dishonest, and cheap," he added. "It is exactly the wrong way to approach the fight against a real fascist movement, against extremist elements."

On tonight\u2019s show, @SteveSchmidtSES said @ProjectLincoln sending protesters dressed as neo-Nazis to a Youngkin rally in Virginia was \u201crecklessly stupid,\u201d \u201cdishonest,\u201d and \u201ccheap.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt was exactly the wrong way to approach the fight against a real fascist movement.\u201dpic.twitter.com/xcZeor2zBD

— America at a Crossroads (@USAconvo) 1636595582

Liberal organizers of tiki torch stunt deny it was meant to be a race hoax, but reporter contradicts key fact



A report documenting how a doomed tiki torch political stunt imploded and backfired on Democrats was contradicted by a reporter who undermines a key claim.

Days before the Virginia gubernatorial election, five people carrying tiki torches stood in front of the campaign bus for the Republican candidate and claimed to be supporters of his. Media figures and Democratic activists immediately condemned then-candidate Glenn Youngkin over the demonstration.

That endeavor blew up in their faces when they were identified by online sleuths as liberal activists pretending to be white supremacists in order to damage Youngkin.

Hours later the Lincoln Project, a liberal anti-Trump organization of former Republicans, claimed responsibility for the bizarre political stunt. They were excoriated and abhorred by many on the left and right.

On Wednesday, emails shared with The Intercept appeared to show that the organizers never intended for the stunt to be taken seriously, and the report claimed that they believed it would be seen for what it was from the beginning.

But among the key claims in the report is that the leader of the tiki torch-bearing activists was going to acknowledge to reporters that they were aligned with the Lincoln Project.

Only questions to be answered are:
Who are you with? We're here with the Lincoln Project.
And Why are you here? We're here to remind Virginians what an endorsement from Donald Trump really means
No comment for any other questions.

Whether that was the intent or not, that's not what happened, according to Jim Bourg, the news picture editor of Reuters, who tweeted in response to someone accusing the media of not asking enough questions.

"Except this is simply not true. We repeatedly asked them individually their names, who they were with and what group if any they represented and they would not say anything at all," tweeted Bourg.

Whatever the intent of the stunt was, it was roundly condemned and became part of the story behind Youngkin's surprising victory on Tuesday over Democrat McAuliffe.

Here's more about the backfiring tiki torch stunt:

Lincoln Project admits orchestrating racist campaign stuntwww.youtube.com

Anti-Trump Lincoln Project admits it orchestrated racist hoax against Republican in Virginia governor's race



The Lincoln Project, a liberal activist organization of former Republicans, admitted that they had orchestrated a bizarre campaign stunt involving a race hoax against the Republican candidate in Virginia's gubernatorial race.

On Friday liberal online influencers and local news outlets promoted a photograph of purported supporters of Glenn Youngkin with white supremacist garb and paraphernalia.

Online sleuths, however, quickly appeared to identify the participants as liberal activists through comparison of the photograph and staffers' online profiles.

Soon after, the Lincoln Project released a statement taking responsibility for the stunt.

"Today's demonstration was our way of reminding Virginians what happened in Charlottesville four years ago," read the statement, referring to a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. The statement said the group intends on continuing their activism on social media and at Youngkin's rallies.

The campaign for former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe released a statement condemning the race hoax perpetrated against Youngkin.

"What happened today is disgusting and distasteful and we condemn it in the strongest terms. Those involved should immediately apologize," said Chris Bolling, the campaign manager for Terry for Virginia, in a statement to Vice News.

A liberal activist who orchestrates undercover sting operations took credit for the scheme.

"In my capacity as a communications consultant, I worked with the Lincoln Project to coordinate this action. I join them in the fight to defend our democracy from rightwing extremists," said Lauren Windsor in part on Twitter.

The Lincoln Project was organized to combat the influence of former President Donald Trump in the Republican party. The group was rocked by sexual harassment accusations against one of the co-founders, John Weaver, by young men who said he promised to help their political careers. Weaver admitted to making inappropriate comments and left the organization. The Lincoln Project has recently been dedicated to electing and supporting liberal democrats.

The attempt to smear Youngkin might be a desperate attempt to push McAuliffe across the finish line after recent polling showed the Republican gaining on the former governor.

Here's more about the pivotal governor's race:

Virginia governor's race virtually tied as campaign enters final weekwww.youtube.com