Democrat Megadonor Behind Defamation Lawsuit Against Trump

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Former President Donald Trump is questioning the โ€œbias and motiveโ€ behind a defamation suit against him by a New York writer after learning the lawsuit is funded by a Democrat megadonor, Reid Hoffman, court filings on April 13 indicate.

The development is the latest in the legal saga between Trump and writer E. Jean Carroll that, according to Trumpโ€™s lawyers, taints Carrollโ€™s case with political undertones.

It dates to 2019 when Carroll accused the former president of sexually assaulting her in the mid-1990s. After Trump denied her allegations in 2019, Carroll filed a defamation lawsuit against Trump in the same year, which bounced around state, federal, and appellate courts in New York and Washington, D.C., and is ongoing.

Carroll filed a separate defamation lawsuit in the Southern District of New York in November 2022, which was the case related to Thursdayโ€™s development.

Nonprofit Funding Revealed

In an April 13 letter, Trumpโ€™s lawyers Alina Habba and Joseph Tacopina raised concerns about Carrollโ€™s statement in an Oct. 14, 2022, deposition that no one was paying her legal fees.

But according to an April 10 letter from Carrollโ€™s attorney to Trumpโ€™s attorneys, Carroll โ€œnow recalls that at some point her counsel secured additional funding from a nonprofit organization to offset certain expenses and legal fees.โ€

That funding, Carrollโ€™s attorney Roberta Kaplan said in an April 13 response to Trumpโ€™s letter, was obtained from โ€œa nonprofit to help pay certain costs and fees in connection with the firmโ€™s work on Carrollโ€™s behalf.โ€

Trumpโ€™s lawyers say they were told by Carrollโ€™s lawyers that the nonprofit providing this funding is the Democrat-aligned organization American Future Republic. Trumpโ€™s lawyers also said the โ€œprimary backerโ€ of this nonprofit is Hoffman, the billionaire founder of LinkedIn. Carrollโ€™s attorneys did not dispute this claim and cited Hoffmanโ€™s name in their response letter on April 13.

Influence Watch, the Capital Research Centerโ€™s policy influence watchdog website, states that Hoffman is the โ€œprimary funderโ€ of American Future Republic and characterizes the 501(c)(4) nonprofit as โ€œleft-of-center.โ€ The website says the nonprofit had a revenue of over $21.9 million in 2019.

By Gary Bai

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