The former employees, in their letter, expressed anger that Lincoln Project leaders had characterized reports about the group’s handling of Mr. Weaver’s behavior as hit jobs from supporters of former President Donald J. Trump.
Insinuating that their efforts constituted a right-wing attack, they wrote, “is not in keeping with the values we signed up to uphold, and resembles the tactics and behavior we joined the Lincoln Project to defeat.”
Over the last year, the Lincoln Project established itself as the leading Republican group opposed to Mr. Trump, skewering him with mocking ads and drawing a large following on the left. But since the election, the group has been splintering. Two former board members, Ron Steslow and Mike Madrid, left in December. George T. Conway III, another key figure in the organization, has also departed.
Ms. Horn said in her statement, “When The New York Times report on Weaver came out recently, I started getting phone calls from some victims who shared very disturbing stories about their interactions with him — interactions that apparently started nearly a year ago and, according to these young men, were communicated to others in the Lincoln Project.”
She added, “I was not aware of these communications or the allegations contained within them.”
She said the young men “spoke of feeling ignored” and “hurt that their experiences were being denied, angry that they had been used and lied to, and fearful that they would be targeted again. It was heartbreaking to hear.”
The Lincoln Project has attributed Ms. Horn’s departure to a dispute over money, saying that she had recently requested “an immediate ‘signing bonus’ payment of $250,000 and a $40,000-per-month consulting contract,” and that in December, she had “demanded a board seat on the Lincoln Project, a television show, a podcast hosting assignment and a staff to manage these endeavors.”
Ms. Horn called the claims that her departure was financially motivated “patently false.”