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p dir=”ltr”>he Justice Department alleged in a letter to the Senate on Wednesday night that Democrat megadonor and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman has funneled dark money through his network to benefit two U.S. senators who portray themselves as crusaders against such unaccountable contributions.
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p dir=”ltr”>The probe into Hoffman and his “political donor ecosystem” was spurred by a letter from Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, following up on the Oct. 7 testimony of Attorney General Pam Bondi to the committee.
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p dir=”ltr”>In exchanges with Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, the committee’s top Democrat, and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., over the Epstein files, Bondi confronted the senators and accused them of taking campaign donations from Hoffman, which both later denied in a letter to Grassley.
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p dir=”ltr”>Hoffman’s ties to Jeffrey Epstein, who died a disgraced financier and sex offender, were previously reported as early as 2019.
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p dir=”ltr”>Durbin, Whitehouse and nine other Democratic senators accused Bondi of deflecting questions about the Epstein files by falsely accusing Durbin and Whitehouse of receiving campaign contributions from Hoffman.
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p dir=”ltr”>“[Bondi] sidestepped questions about her role in the Jeffrey Epstein coverup by falsely accusing Ranking Member Durbin and Senator Whitehouse of taking campaign donations from Reid Hoffman,” the Democratic senators wrote in an Oct. 24 letter.
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p dir=”ltr”>But, the Justice Department’s letter says publicly available evidence shows Durbin and Whitehouse have indeed appeared to benefit from the largesse of Hoffman’s political contributions to PACs and campaign committees.
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p dir=”ltr”>“[The] evidence paints a clear picture that Reid Hoffman has established a dark-money empire that channels anonymous donations through nonprofits and PACs to influence federal elections and judicial nominations,” Assistant Attorney General Patrick Davis wrote to Grassley.
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p dir=”ltr”>“Additionally, Ranking Member Durbin, Senator Whitehouse, and other Senate Judiciary Committee members have apparently benefited from this system, and their continued public attacks on ‘dark money’ while accepting Mr. Hoffman’s indirect financial support are troubling,” he also wrote.
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p dir=”ltr”>You can read the letter here:
File
2025.12.03-OUT-Grassley-Hoffman_Questions.pdf
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p dir=”ltr”>In the letter, the Justice Department pointed to over 1,650 contributions, in excess of $76 million, to Democratic and Democrat-aligned causes as evidence that Hoffman is at the center of a liberal dark money ecosystem.
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p dir=”ltr”>According to Federal Election Commission records the DOJ cited, Durbin and Whitehouse have been indirect recipients of Hoffman’s donations, the letter alleged.
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p dir=”ltr”>Neither Durbin nor Whitehouse returned a request Wednesday for comment. Hofffman could not be reached for comment.
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p dir=”ltr”>The campaign finance tracking site Open Secrets estimates at least $1 billion in dark money has been spent in elections since 2010.
"Dark money refers to spending meant to influence political outcomes where the source of the money is not disclosed. Here’s how dark money makes its way into elections," Open Secrets explained. "Politically active nonprofits such as 501(c)(4)s are generally under no legal obligation to disclose their donors even if they spend to influence elections. When they choose not to reveal their sources of funding, they are considered dark money groups."
"Opaque nonprofits and shell companies may give unlimited amounts of money to super PACs. While super PACs are legally required to disclose their donors, some of these groups are effectively dark money outlets when the bulk of their funding cannot be traced back to the original donor," it added.
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p dir=”ltr”>DOJ’s letter states that the records it gathered show Hoffman gave $90,000 to the Rhode Island Democratic State Committee since 2016, which has given in-kind contributions to Whitehouse in his 2017 Senate campaign but spent $108,000 to support Whitehouse’s 2018 and 2024 election campaigns. Whitehouse’s campaign also received contributions from Common Ground PAC in 2022, to which Hoffman has contributed thousands of dollars.
Diem ‘Richard’ Nguyen
Liên Minh Bảo Hiến Mỹ Gốc Việt
Vietnamese American Conservative Alliance (VACA)
https://freedom-vaca.org/vaca-blog-tieng-viet-nam/