CNN avoids asking John Kasich about sexual harassment claims against ex-aide John Weaver

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Media accused of burying scandal involving Lincoln Project co-founder

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CNN commentator and former Ohio Gov. John Kasich was able to skate through his on-air appearance Monday despite the publication of a bombshell report about his former aide, John Weaver. 

Weaver, who served as an adviser on Kasich's 2016 presidential campaign, has been accused by 21 young men of sexual harassment, according to The New York Times. One accuser was just 14 years old at the time of the alleged harassment.

Kasich took part in a panel discussion on CNN's "The Situation Room" Monday, the day after the Times report was published. The segment, which lasted approximately eight minutes, was devoted to discussion of President Biden's meeting with 10 GOP senators about the next round of coronavirus relief. 

However, CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer refrained from asking Kasich about the allegations against Weaver.

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A representative for Kasich told Fox News on Tuesday that the governor "never had any knowledge" of Weaver's behavior when he worked on the presidential campaign.

"We were completely surprised when we learned of these allegations, as we had not seen any evidence of this behavior while he was working with us," Jim Lynch, who previously served as Kasich's communications director, said in a statement. "Although he has not worked for our organization in quite some time, we are extremely disappointed and disturbed by what we have learned."

CNN did not immediately respond to Fox News' request for comment. 

Meanwhile, MSNBC "Morning Joe" co-host Mika Brzezinski briefly confronted George Conway, who co-founded the anti-Trump group The Lincoln Project with Weaver, about the allegations.

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"It's terrible and awful and appalling and unfathomable, I, I didn't know John very well. I frankly only spoke to him a couple of times on the phone early on in the Lincoln Project. It's almost, I don't even know what to say. It's just terrible," Conway told Brzezinski. "It leaves me speechless, frankly."

Conway's comments suggesting he didn't know Weaver very well were mocked by critics who recalled that the two co-wrote a New York Times op-ed in December 2019 headlined, "We Are Republicans, and We Want Trump Defeated."

Fox News contributor and The Hill media columnist Joe Concha condemned Conway’s comment as "laughable" and accused Weaver’s now-former colleague of lying.

"You didn’t know him very well? You co-founded this Lincoln Project thingy, raised more than $80 million last year going into the election and, oh by the way, there is an op-ed in The New York Times that you co-wrote with Mr. Weaver," Concha said Monday on "The Faulkner Focus."

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Weaver issued the following statement to the New York Times: "I am so disheartened and sad that I may have brought discomfort to anyone in what I thought at the time were mutually consensual discussions.

"In living a deeply closeted life, I allowed my pain to cause pain for others," he added. "For that I am truly sorry to these men and everyone and for letting so many people down."

Fox News' Brian Flood contributed to this report.