An adviser to prominent Democrat donor Reid Hoffman reportedly emailed journalists on Saturday night suggesting that former President Donald Trump might have staged his own assassination attempt.

Dmitri Mehlhorn, according to emails obtained by Semafor, suggested Saturday’s events were “encouraged and maybe even staged” for clout, adding “this is a classic Putin play and given the facts seems more plausible.”

Mehlhorn is an advisor to Hoffman, the leftist LinkedIn founder who — in addition to bankrolling Democrat campaigns — has funded election disinformation and anti-Trump lawfare.

Mehlhorn sent an email “that appeared to be addressed to sympathetic journalists” the evening of the assassination attempt, according to Semafor, claiming Trump may have staged the shooting which wounded the former president and killed one attendee. 

He briefly acknowledged the possibility that “some crazy anti-Trumper” committed the violence before suggesting Trump had orchestrated it himself, comparing the former president to Russians and Hamas. 

“The other possibility – which feels horrific and alien and absurd in America, but is quite common globally – is that this ‘shooting’ was encouraged and maybe even staged so Trump could get photos and benefit from the backlash,” Mehlhorn suggested. “This is a classic Russian tactic, such as when Putin killed 300 civilians in 1999 and blamed it on terrorists to ride the backlash to winning power. Others who have embraced this tactic of committing raw evil and then benefitting from the backlash include Hamas on October 7.”

Hypocrisy

Hoffman, Mehlhorn’s advisee, seemingly promoted violence against Trump in an exchange last Wednesday with PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel during the Allen & Company Conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, Puck reported. 

Thiel thanked Hoffman “sarcastically” for backing anti-Trump lawfare, as it helped his campaign by “turning a clown into a martyr.”

“Yeah, I wish I had made him an actual martyr,” Hoffman replied. 

Hoffman tried to explain this on X yesterday, saying his remarks expressed hope Trump would “let himself be held accountable” for his “assaults on and lies about women,” referring to the E. Jean Carroll lawsuit which Hoffman helped fund. 

“Of course I meant nothing about any sort of physical harm or violence, which I categorically deplore. I meant and mean accountability to the rule of law,” Hoffman wrote.

Still, Hoffman criticized Trump for not denouncing “political violence” enough.

“He should clearly indicate, which he never has, that political violence is evil and unacceptable – even if the perpetrators are trying to do it to benefit him,” Hoffman posted to X. “Instead of calling the January 6 insurrectionists ‘heroes’ whom he intends to pardon and even hire into government, he should speak out against political violence. When he warns against consequences of him losing the election, he should not predict a ‘bloodbath’ in a way that might incite future protesters to violence against his political opponents.”

Hoffman concluded with the obligatory remarks that he is “horrified and saddened by what happened” to Trump, and he’d like to “wish him a speedy recovery.”

Funding Election Disinformation, Lawfare

Hoffman funded a false information campaign that used “Russian tactics” against Republican Roy Moore, an Alabama candidate for U.S. Senate, according to the New York Times.

Hoffman and Mehlhorn created investment fund “Investing in US” after the 2016 election to bankroll left-wing groups including American Engagement Technologies (AET), which, beginning in 2017, received a total of $750,000. 

AET helped run the $100,000 scheme that used Russian-style tactics to reduce Moore’s support, according to The New York Times. Operatives created a Facebook page, seemingly run by Alabamians, to split the Republican vote. Moore lost narrowly to Democrat Doug Jones, and Hoffman has since apologized for his role in the scheme.

Hoffman also helped fund E. Jean Carroll’s lawsuit against Trump, according to court documents cited by The New York Times. Carroll accused Trump of raping her and sued him for defamation when he denied it. Carroll declined to press criminal charges against Trump because of the strange claim that she “would find it disrespectful to the women who are down on the border who are being raped around the clock.” 

The Hoffman-backed nonprofit American Future Republic provided funding for the lawsuit, according to Forbes. Carroll won $2 million for the alleged assault and $3 million for the alleged defamation in a civil trial.

Hoffman recently announced he is investing millions of dollars in tabulator company Smartmatic to support the company’s lawsuit against Fox News and Newsmax for their coverage of election integrity concerns in 2020. In a statement to The Federalist, Fox said that the suit attempts to “chill” the company’s free speech.

Logan Washburn is a staff writer covering election integrity. He graduated from Hillsdale College, served as Christopher Rufo's editorial assistant, and has bylines in The Wall Street Journal, The Tennessean, and The Daily Caller. Logan is originally from Central Oregon but now lives in rural Michigan.