On Saturday, after an assassination attempt on President Donald Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, Dmitri Mehlhorn, the chief political advisor to billionaire LinkedIn co-founder and rabid anti-Trump advocate Reid Hoffman, sent a disturbing email to journalists.
Mehlhorn thought it was the perfect time to suggest the tragic incident that took the life of Corey Comperatore and left others battling for their lives was possibly a “false flag” and “staged.”
Semafor reported that Mehlhorn wrote that one “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 the photos and benefit from the backlash.”
Mehlhorn also referenced the “Russia, Russia, Russia” narrative, stating that false flag attacks are “a classic Russian tactic” used by Vladimir Putin to gain power in 1999. He further mentioned that other examples of this “tactic of committing raw evil and then benefiting from the backlash include Hamas on October 7.”
He did concede that another possibility “is that some crazy anti-Trumper in this chaotic moment decided to assassinate the former President.”
As reported by Semafor:
“I know I am prone to bias on this, but this is a classic Putin play and given the facts seems more plausible,” he wrote. “Look at the actual shot. Look at the staging. Look at how ready Trump is to rally; this pampered baby sh– his pants when an eagle lunged at this food. Look at how quickly Trump protects himself at the expense of others, but showed few of those lifelong instincts in this moment. And consider how often Putin and his allies run this play.”
“I know it feels yucky to discuss such a possibility. But in this case, the odds are so high, and the stakes so consequential, we must as[k] the question,” Mehlhorn continued.
“Ask the question, people. If it proves wrong, we should respond appropriately to a non-staged act of political violence, as outlined above. But your credibility and our entire system of truth and justice depends on being certain of the answer.”
Mehlhorn told FOX Business he regretted sending the email and has apologized:
“Last night, I sent an email I now regret. It was drafted and sent without consultation from team members or allies. I have apologized to them directly.
I also want to apologize publicly, without reservation, for allowing my words to distract from last night’s central fact: political violence took yet another innocent American life last night.
We must unite in condemnation of such violence in every instance, without reservation. Any other topic is a distraction.
I am grateful that those injured last night appear to be on the path to full recovery. Again, I apologize, and wish I had reacted as thoughtfully as Reid Hoffman this morning.”
Hoffman himself faced backlash after joking at a meeting last week that he wished he had made Trump “an actual martyr.”
On Sunday, after the assassination attempt, Hoffman took to X to say that he was referring to “accountability to the rule of law” and was “horrified and saddened” by the attack.
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