LinkedIn cofounder Reid Hoffman tries to explain away comment saying he wished he could ‘martyr Trump’

LinkedIn’s co-founder Reid Hoffman has sought to clarify comments he made about Donald Trump before the assassination attempt against him, in which he said that he wished the former president was a “martyr.”

The internet entrepreneur said at an Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference last week, before the shooting incident at Trump’s campaign rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday night, that he wished the presumptive Republican candidate for the White House was «an actual martyr” – a comment that then gained fresh attention after the assassination attempt.

Hoffman has since clarified his comments in a lengthy post on X, but this also has come as his political adviser came under fire for reportedly floating the idea that the assassination attempt could have possibly been ”staged.”

Hoffman wrote on X: “A point of clarification on a recent comment of mine that has been reported out of context.

“At a recent business conference, Peter Thiel said that my lawsuit work against Trump was ‘turning a clown into a martyr.’ In that context, I replied that I wished that Trump would martyr himself – meaning let himself be held accountable – for his assaults on and lies about women.

“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, such as unanimous guilty felony verdict by 12 jurors on 34 counts and an $84 million judgment for slander and lies about his sexual assault.

“I am horrified and saddened by what happened to former President Trump and wish him a speedy recovery,” the LinkedIn founder added.

Hoffman has been aharsh critic of Trump and has also helped fund a civil rape lawsuit brought against the ex-president by E. Jean Carroll in