John Weaver, a co-founder of the anti-Trump conservative group Lincoln Project, admitted Friday to sending several men sexually explicit messages and propositions for sex, according to a report.
Reports of his uninvited homosexual advances surfaced this week but Mr. Weaver, a longtime Republican operative, acknowledged the behavior Friday, according to Axios.
“To the men I made uncomfortable through my messages that I viewed as consensual mutual conversations at the time: I am truly sorry. They were inappropriate and it was because of my failings that this discomfort was brought on you,” Mr. Weaver told the news website.
The propositions sometimes were “coupled with offers of employment or political advancement,” according to the report.
Mr. Weaver described himself as struggling to reconcile his homosexuality.
“The truth is that I’m gay,” he said “And that I have a wife and two kids who I love. My inability to reconcile those two truths has led to this agonizing place.”
Mr. Weaver became a prominent Never Trump figure after decades as a top Republican strategist, including serving former Ohio Gov. John Kasich and the late Sen. John McCain.
He took a medical leave of absence last summer from the Lincoln Project, which produced anti-Trump ads as part of a campaign to defeat him and clear the way for a resurgence of traditional Republicans.
“While I am taking full responsibility for the inappropriate messages and conversations,” Mr. Weaver said, “I want to state clearly that the other smears being leveled at me … are categorically false and outrageous.”
A Lincoln Project spokesman declined to comment beyond Mr. Weaver’s statement.
• S.A. Miller can be reached at smiller@washingtontimes.com.
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