LinkedIn's Hoffman offers $5 million for Trump's tax returns

LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman is the latest Silicon Valley heavyweight to get his money involved in politics. He’s of­fering to donate as much as $5 mil­lion to veterans if Republican nom­inee Donald Trump releases his tax returns in time for the final presi­dential debate.

Hoffman, who is chairman of LinkedIn Corp. and a partner at venture capital firm Greylock Part­ners, saw a crowdfunding challenge by a 26-year-old Marine Corps vet­eran, Pete Kiernan, who said he would donate any of the money raised to nonprofits that assist vet­erans if Trump releases his returns by Oct. 19, the date of the final de­bate. If Kiernan meets or beats his $25,000 target, Hoffman will match the total amount by five times, up to $5 million, he said in apost on Medium.

“There’s no real reason that Trump is keeping his returns se­cret, except that he sees them as a bargaining chip to utilize,” Hoffman wrote. “As Trump skirts his obliga­tion to the American people, we must show him that we do value accountability and transparency.”

Hoffman didn’t say which can­didate he supports, but appealed to Trump’s claims as a support­er of veterans. His pledge comes a few days after Facebook Inc. co-founder Dustin Moskovitz said he would commit $20 million to help­ing Democrats in the election, in­cluding presidential nominee Hill­ary Clinton. Moskovitz said it was his first open endorsement and do­nation to a candidate for president.