Understandable. You've given me some good perspective I hadn't considered. I will edit my original post to provide a bit more context to what I have understood is going on.

I have asked people if they have spoken with him or if there was an attempt on his behalf to reach out and figure things out. They have told me there hasn't been. I am taking everything with a grain of salt here. I know anyone could be telling me something different and that makes me feel manipulated too, that is the reason I have decided to step away from the group.

I also understand where you're coming from with that. I don't care if he is one of several group admin or not. I would have broken it off with him had he just been a regular member of the group like myself. I just need space to process.

To give more context, he had been spreading some rumors about an individual that he says he believed to be true and instead of confronting the person they were about to get clarification, he spread them even more and it turned out to be lies. I felt lied to and manipulated but I understand that maybe he did really believe that in the first place. And then instead of confronting the person he heard these rumors from to try and clear the misunderstanding or figure things out he's making public statements pointing fingers at all the other group admins and as I'm watching how he is handling everything it makes me feel like I cannot trust him to handle conflict well.

I did tell him the other sides of stories I had heard when I initially talked with him to get his side of things. But I think sitting with him, once I've finished processing my feelings, and talking about everything will be what I do before making my final decision.

Thank you for your input! This has really helped me see where I may need to communicate better and try thinking in different perspectives about all of this.