Georgia Republican Senate candidate Rep. Mike Collins issues a "demand" for Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., to return a donation from Reid Hoffman.
EXCLUSIVE:Democrat Sen. Jon Ossoff of Georgia is being criticized as a "hypocrite" and faces a challenge to return a sizable donation from aJeffrey Epstein-linked billionaire or drop one of his main lines of attack on Republicans as representing the "Epstein class."
Ossoff has framed his re-election effort as pushing back on the influence of wealthy elites and getting big money out of politics. However, his campaign received the maximum legal contribution of $7,000 from Silicon Valley billionaire Reid Hoffman, a venture capitalist who previously admitted to visiting Epstein’s private island. Hoffman also donated $1 million to an Ossoff-linked political action committee, New Engagement PAC.
Hoffman has not been accused of any wrongdoing. But Ossoff’sRepublican challenger, Rep. Mike Collins, says that accepting donations from Hoffman shows Ossoff "has been nothing but a hypocrite the entire time."
In an interview with Fox News Digital, Collins said he is giving Ossoff a very simple choice: return the Reid Hoffman donation or explain why the "Epstein class" does not include one of his own maximum-dollar donors.
DEM ‘EPSTEIN CLASS’ ATTACK BACKFIRES AS TOP CANDIDATES FUNDED BY EPSTEIN-TIED BILLIONAIRE
Billionaire Reid Hoffman (left), a known former associate of Jeffrey Epstein, made contributions to the campaign for Sen. Jon Ossoff (right), D-Ga., and to a PAC opposing Ossoff's challenger, Rep. Mike Collins, R-Ga.(David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images; Ben Hendren/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
On the campaign trail, Ossoff has railed against American politics for "running on secret money, corporate money, billionaire money" and accused the Trump administration of taking "American corruption to spectacular new heights." He released a statement earlier this year, saying, "We were told that MAGA was for working-class Americans. But this is a government of, by, and for the ultra-rich... this is the Epstein class, ruling our country. They are the elites they pretend to hate."
However, one of Ossoff’s donors, Hoffman, a Seattle-based billionaire, has previously admitted to spending a night on Epstein’s Caribbean island. Their first known meeting was on July 19, 2013, almost five years after Epstein pleaded guilty in Florida to state charges of soliciting prostitution and procuring a minor for prostitution. According toMassachusetts Institute of Technology records, Hoffman, then a member of the university’s Media Lab Advisory Council, met with Epstein alongside other faculty members on campus.
The next year, Hoffman visited Epstein’s private island, Little Saint James, and stayed overnight,The Wall Street Journalreported.Business Insiderreported that in a recent podcast appearance, Hoffman admitted to staying one night at Epstein’s island as part of an MIT fundraising trip. Regarding his visit, he quipped, "Note to self: Google before going."
The Wall Street Journal reported that later in 2014, Hoffman sent Epstein ice cream, writing that it was for him or "for the girls."
Hoffman has since apologized for his association with Epstein, saying that "by agreeing to participate in any fundraising activity where Epstein was present, I helped to repair his reputation and perpetuate injustice. For this, I am deeply regretful."
DEMS DESCEND ON POSH ISLAND GETAWAY PACKED WITH DEEP-POCKETED DONORS AS MIDTERMS CLOSE IN
Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell attend de Grisogono Sponsors The 2005 Wall Street Concert Series Benefitting Wall Street Rising, with a Performance by Rod Stewart at Cipriani Wall Street on March 15, 2005, in New York City.(Joe Schildhorn/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)
This election cycle, Hoffman donated $7,000 to Ossoff’s campaign.
