LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman mentioned he’s apprehensive President-elect Donald Trump may have the Inside Income Service topic him to an audit or have the federal government deny him contracts as retribution for his assist for Vice President Kamala Harris.
Hoffman, whose internet price was valued by Forbes at $2.6 billion as of Monday, instructed “The Diary of a CEO” podcast on Monday that he’s bracing for “personal and political retaliation because I tried to help Harris get elected.”
“I think that there’s a greater than 50% chance that there will be repercussions from a misdirection and corruption of the institutions of state to respond to my having tried to help Harris get elected,” Hoffman instructed podcast host Steven Bartlett.
When Bartlett requested what type the retaliation might take, Hoffman replied that “it’s a range” and that “I hope that it’s only in the soft end of the range like IRS audits or phone calls” to disclaim him authorities contracts.
Hoffman cited the instance of Jeff Bezos, the Amazon founder and proprietor of the Washington Submit.
In 2019, Amazon sued the Trump administration after the corporate misplaced out on a $10 billion cloud-computing contract with the Pentagon.
Microsoft ended up successful the contract that Amazon was additionally vying for. The e-commerce firm accused Trump of improperly influencing the choice on account of his animosity towards Bezos, whose newspaper’s protection of the then-president was vital.
Hoffman mentioned within the interview that was streamed on Monday that the retribution from Trump “could get much worse but I don’t really want to speculate on it because I don’t want to give anybody any ideas.”
“But, like, I think…I would safely win a bet that there will be political repercussions that are essentially undemocratic, un-American…and direct to me,” Hoffman mentioned.
Hoffman, who donated tens of millions to Harris’ failed bid to win the White Home, mentioned that he had no plans to go away the nation.
Final month, the New York Occasions reported that Hoffman was privately telling pals and associates that he was contemplating relocating to a different nation within the wake of Trump’s victory.
Hoffman, who sparked anger earlier this 12 months when he remarked that he wished Trump can be an “actual martyr” simply days earlier than he was shot in a failed assassination try, reportedly instructed folks in his internal circle that he was apprehensive the president-elect would search retribution in opposition to him.
In April final 12 months, the Occasions reported that Hoffman additionally helped bankroll a defamation lawsuit filed by former New York journal author E. Jean Carroll in opposition to Trump.
Attorneys for Trump argued in courtroom that Hoffman’s position in financing the lawsuit raised “significant questions” about Carroll’s credibility.
A jury discovered Trump responsible for sexually abusing Carroll in 1996 and for defamation. She was awarded $5 million in damages.
Earlier this 12 months, one other jury awarded Carroll an extra $83.3 million in damages for defamation after Trump mentioned she was mendacity about rape allegations.
“President Trump will serve ALL Americans, even those who did not vote for him in the election,” Karoline Leavitt, a spokesperson for the Trump-Vance transition group, mentioned in a press release to The Submit.
“He will unify the country through success.”
