The $tinkin’ ‘Lincolns’
Anti-prez GOPers’ tax, Russia woes
The founders of the Lincoln Project, a headline-grabbing antiTrump political action committee formed by GOP operatives who describe the president as a “crook” and “huckster,” have their own checkered dealings with Russia and the tax man, documents obtained by The Post reveal.
Since its inception last November — announced with a blistering New York Times op-ed — the brainchild of George Conway, Steve Schmidt, Rick Wilson and John Weaver has raked in more than $19.4 million, according to Federal Election Commission filings, and has needled President Trump repeatedly with provocative TV ads.
The group has made a big splash in the short time it has been in existence largely because Conway is the husband of White House counselor Kellyanne Conway.
But the group — which the National Review on Monday dubbed “The Grifter Project” and Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) last week dismissed as a “cabal of political consultants all in it for the money” — doesn’t exactly practice what it preaches.
Weaver, a political consultant known for his work on John McCain’s and John Kasich’s presidential campaigns, registered as a Russian foreign agent for uranium conglomerate TENEX in a six-figure deal last year, filings with the Department of Justice show.
TENEX’s parent company is Rosatom, a Russian state-owned corporation that also owns Uranium One — the company that paid former President Bill Clinton $500,000 in speaking fees and millions to the Clinton Foundation after then-President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton signed off on the controversial merger in 2010.
Weaver backed out of the lobbying gig in May 2019 and called it “a mistake” in a tweet in which he denied having taken any money from TENEX.
Still, that hasn’t stopped him from ironically railing against Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani and his “rogue ties to Putin backed thugs in Ukraine & elsewhere.”
According to IRS filings exclusively obtained by The Post,
Weaver — who has also repeatedly called Trump a “tax fraud” and a “tax crook” on Twitter — has an outstanding $313,655 federal tax lien against his Austin, Texas, home.
Last March, an Austin shopping mall also filed a lawsuit against the children’s clothing store that Weaver and his wife own, according to court documents obtained by The Post, just months after Weaver mocked the president’s own string of failed businesses.
Weaver’s fellow Lincoln Project founder Wilson also has an interesting financial past. According to IRS documents, the GOP strategist has an outstanding $389,420 federal tax lien against his Tallahassee, Fla., home, and his bank moved to foreclose on the property in 2016.
Wilson, a best-selling author with 1 million Twitter followers, has never disclosed the money woes publicly, allowing him to sneer online about Trump’s decision never to release his own taxes — at one point calling him “Brokeahontas,” despite American Express taking Wilson to court in 2018 for an unpaid $25,729 credit card bill, documents show.
Voter records on the Utah lieutenant governor’s Web site also show veteran strategist Schmidt hasn’t voted recently — listing him as an “inactive voter” who has not taken part in two general elections and has failed to respond to letters from the county clerk.
Schmidt, a communications strategist who has worked with former President George W. Bush, McCain and former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, disputed this account, telling The Post he voted by mail in 2016 and 2018 and registered as an independent in 2018.
A spokesman for the Lincoln Project declined to comment. Conway, Wilson and Weaver did not immediately return calls for comment.