In the midst of a turbulent divorce, the former face of The Lincoln Project, an organization that had the stated mission to “defeat Donald Trump at his ballot box” as well as “ensure Trumpism fails alongside him”, has been issued a temporary restraining order.
Steve Schmidt, Reed Galen, and John Weaver founded the Lincoln Project while former President Trump was still in power. Angela Schmidt and her husband are currently divorcing. According to an exclusive report by the Daily Caller, Mrs. Schmidt had filed in August for a restraining or against her soon-to-be ex-husband. The filing was amended and granted on October 16th.
It is not known what actions led to the request for a restraining order. The Daily Caller reported, however, that Utah law allows restraining orders to be issued during child custody and divorce proceedings if the judge feels that one of the parties will suffer “irreparable damage” unless the court makes an order. The law doesn’t require the judge who grants the order to notify the subject that a temporary restraining order was issued against him/her.
You can read the entire redacted restraining Order against Schmidt here.
Steve Schmidt made serious allegations against a variety of media and political figures, even though he had obvious problems at home. Schmidt, who admitted he didn’t vote for Sen. John McCain (R), the 2008 presidential campaign Schmidt managed in his home, called McCain “unfit” to be president. Schmidt also called Meghan McCain’s daughter “rotten”, entitled, cruel, mean, and bullying.”
Schmidt then took J. D. Vance, the Republican Senator-elect from Ohio, wildly out of context and accused him of advising domestic violence victims “to stick around until the next beating.”
Schmidt, who ran Vance’s campaign, tweeted that “I think most people don’t believe women who have been beaten should remain married to the men who beat them, shoot, stab and burn them.” Schmidt was a former political opponent of Democrat Tim Ryan. This theory is supported by JD Vance. He wants the beaten woman to stay for the next beating. It’s sickening and extreme. It’s disqualifyin[g.]”
Vance had only criticized no-fault divorcing.
Schmidt recently made reference to the sexual harassment allegations leveled against Roger Ailes, Fox News CEO. He tweeted on November 2: “I used to be smuggled in Fox News for secret meetings. The same elevator that he made abused the women from.
Schmidt also linked Eric Greitens, a former U.S. Senate Candidate from Missouri to domestic violence.
Schmidt was not the victim of harassing accusations, despite his accusations against many public figures, deceased and alive. The Coalition For Women In Journalism, for example, claimed that Schmidt harassed Maggie Haberman, a New York Times reporter on Twitter.
The Coalition for Women in Journalism condemned the incident and demanded that Steve Schmidt offer an apology, both for his unprofessional opinion as well as for his latest attempt at bullying Maggie Haberman via social media. The organization released a statement.
In 2021, Schmidt resigned as a member of the Lincoln Project board. Schmidt’s colleague Weaver, also resigned from Lincoln Project in 2021. Weaver was accused of sending sexual messages to young men (some of whom were minors) during the McCain campaign.
After the allegations were made public, Schmidt condemned Weaver and said he was unaware of Weaver’s allegedly abusive behavior. Some dispute this claim, insisting that Schmidt knew of the allegations by October 2020.
