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Cole Trickle Miele was 14 when he followed Mr. Weaver on Twitter in 2015 and quickly received a direct message from him. At first, he did not think anything was amiss.
“I remember being a 14-year-old kid interested in politics and being semi-starstruck by John Weaver engaging in a conversation with me,” said Mr. Trickle Miele, now 19. At the time, he supported the Republican Party and was a fan of Mr. Kasich, the Ohio governor whom Mr. Weaver was helping prepare to join the presidential race.
In June 2018, Mr. Weaver asked, “Are you in HS still?” — referring to high school — and Mr. Trickle Miele said that he was, and that he would be 18 the next spring. “You look older,” Mr. Weaver replied. “You’ve gotten taller.”
In March 2020, when Mr. Trickle Miele was 18, Mr. Weaver wrote, “I want to come to Vegas and take you to dinner and drinks and spoil you!!,” and in a follow-up message used a term that in sexual banter refers to one’s body: “Hey my boy! resend me your stats! or I can guess! if that is easier or more fun!”
Kyle Allen, 23, said that from 2016 to 2018, Mr. Weaver asked about his height, weight, what he was wearing and whether he was circumcised. He also pushed repeatedly for an invitation to speak at the University of Ottawa, where Mr. Allen was studying, using sexually explicit language to express his eagerness to visit.
“I would try to veer the conversations toward politics, and he would always find a way to bring it back to sexual stuff,” Mr. Allen said.
In at least two cases, Mr. Weaver offered young men work with the Lincoln Project while sending suggestive messages.
One of those men, Anthony Covell, 22, said Mr. Weaver had begun messaging him in July 2019. That exchange tapered off, but on Dec. 3, 2019 — two weeks before the Lincoln Project was publicly announced — Mr. Weaver invited him to join the new initiative.
“He said he was looking for young people who were creative and invested in this upcoming election,” Mr. Covell said, adding, “I was obviously interested.”
Mr. Weaver suggested that Mr. Covell “post a thirst trap” or “send me a pic,” then asked him to call for more details on the project.
“Something inside me was saying, ‘No, don’t do this, he seems kind of sketchy,’” Mr. Covell said.
He decided not to call.











