LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman is worried about an Internal Revenue Service audit or government denying a contract in retaliation for President-elect Donald Trump's support for Vice President Kamala Harris. He said he was concerned that this might be the case.
Hoffman's net worth is Recognized by Forbes magazine Announced $2.6 billion as of Monday. Monday Podcast “Diary of a CEO” He said he was preparing for “personal and political retaliation for trying to help Harris get elected.”
Hoffman told podcast host Stephen Bartlett: “There is a greater than 50% chance that my efforts to help elect Harris will be influenced by misdirection or corruption in our state institutions.'' I think so,” he said.
When Mr. Bartlett asked what forms retaliation could take, Mr. Hoffman replied, “That's a range,” and that denying government contracts was “a range of things, like an IRS audit or a phone call.” I hope it's only a soft end.”
Hoffman cited the example of Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon and owner of the Washington Post.
Amazon sued the Trump administration in 2019 after losing a $10 billion cloud computing contract with the Department of Defense.
Microsoft ultimately won the contract that Amazon was also fighting for. The e-commerce company accused Trump of unfairly influencing the decision, citing his hostility toward Bezos, whose coverage of the then-president was critical.
In an interview broadcast Monday, Hoffman said retaliation from President Trump “could be much worse, but I don't want to speculate too much because I don't want to give anyone an idea.”
“But I think I would safely win a bet that would be inherently undemocratic, un-American, and have direct political consequences for me,” Hoffman said.
Mr. Hoffman, who donated millions of dollars to Mr. Harris' unsuccessful bid for the White House, said he has no plans to leave the country.
last month, The New York Times reported Mr. Hoffman had privately told friends and colleagues that he was considering moving to another country in the wake of Mr. Trump's victory.
Mr. Hoffman sparked outrage earlier this year by saying he wanted Mr. Trump to be a “true martyr” just days before he was shot dead in an assassination attempt, but the president-elect was reportedly shot. He reportedly told a close aide that he was worried that he might I seek retribution against him.
In April of last year, The Times reported that Hoffman said: It also helped raise money for a defamation lawsuit brought against Trump by former New York Magazine reporter E. Jean Carroll.
Trump's lawyers argued in court that Hoffman's role in funding the lawsuit raised “serious questions” about Carroll's credibility.
A jury found Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation of Carroll in 1996. She was ordered to pay $5 million in damages.
Earlier this year, another jury awarded Carroll an additional $83.3 million in defamation damages after President Trump said she was lying about the rape allegation.
“President Trump will serve all Americans, including those who did not vote for him in the election,” Caroline Leavitt, a spokeswoman for the Trump-Vance transition team, said in a statement to the Post. said.
“He will unite the country through success.”
