They call their newsletter "Politico Pro," but it can sound more like "Politico Promo." Take reporter Andrew Howard with his embarrassingly unskeptical pitch for funds on Monday, "Anti-Trump former Republicans have a multimillion-dollar plan to save House Democrats." When you hear  the name "Lincoln Project" you should check your pocket to make sure the contents of your wallet are still intact. A co-founder of the Lincoln Project, Steve Schmidt, is back at the political money trough searching for funds using the name of the Save America Movement (SAM). And all they say they need is about $100 million. Anti-Trump former Republicans think Democrats are squandering their chance to flip the House — and they have a $100 million plan to save them. On the heels of overperformances up and down the ballot this year, the Save America Movement, co-founded by former Lincoln Project founder Steve Schmidt, wants to pour up to $100 million into as many as 60 GOP-controlled House seats ahead of the midterms. The ambitious strategy for the Democrat-aligned group, shared first with POLITICO, is the group’s first foray into electoral politics after it has spent significant capital protesting President Donald Trump’s return to office, which it deems a fundamental threat to American freedoms. “The Save America Movement was started with the express mission of defeating MAGA, but the electoral side, particularly the 2026 elections, are absolutely critical to that mission,” said Mary Corcoran, co-founder and executive director of SAM. All they need is $100 million? Such a deal! But it would have been helpful if Howard had provided some important background about Steve Schmidt, the old McCain campaign aide. Here are some of the allegations as reported in February 2021 by the liberal Associated Press in "How a leading anti-Trump group ignored a crisis in its ranks."  Although much of the article covers the Lincoln Project pedophile scandal which was the reason Schmidt gave for leaving that organization, serious allegations of financial shenanigans were also made: Since its creation, the Lincoln Project has raised $90 million. But only about a third of the money, roughly $27 million, directly paid for advertisements that aired on broadcast and cable, or appeared online, during the 2020 campaign, according to an analysis of campaign finance disclosures and data from the ad tracking firm Kantar/CMAG. That leaves tens of millions of dollars that went toward expenses like production costs, overhead — and exorbitant consulting fees collected by members of the group. “It raises questions about where the rest of the money ultimately went,” said Brendan Fischer, an attorney with the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center in Washington. “Generally speaking, you’d expect to see a major super PAC spend a majority or more of their money on advertisements and that’s not what happened here.” The vast majority of the cash was split among consulting firms controlled by its founders, including about $27 million paid to a small firm controlled by Galen and another $21 million paid to a boutique firm run by former Lincoln Project member Ron Steslow, campaign finance disclosures show. ...Others used the money earned during their time with Lincoln Project to refinance homes, or purchase a new one. Schmidt purchased a $1.4 million “Mountain Modern” custom home in Kamas, Utah, with five bedrooms, seven baths and a “stunning” view of the Uinta Mountains, according to property records and real estate listings. He is currently trying to resell the home for $2.9 million. With that background information about Steve Schmidt in mind, it puts into a much more proper (and amusing) perspective this one paragraph quote from Politico's Howard: The high-dollar goal of $50 to $100 million is no easy fundraising task. Asked whether the group would have trouble meeting the figure, Corcoran said “what I can tell you is that the response from donors has been very positive.” Was that positive response from donors from those who were uninformed or informed about the financial adventures of the Lincoln Project co-founders? PS: For those of you who still consider Steve Schmidt to have been one of the "reasonable" co-founders of the Lincoln Project in stark contrast to the deranged Rick Wilson, this recent X post by Schmidt proves that he is every bit as vile as Wilson, accusing someone else of selling out principles: Scott Jennings is a Nazi who shills for a fascist. pic.twitter.com/ms53d5TSrM — Steve Schmidt (@SteveSchmidtSES) December 7, 2025