EXCLUSIVE: Ossoff challenged to return Epstein-linked donation or retract ‘Epstein class’ attack

EXCLUSIVE: Democrat Sen. Jon Ossoff of Georgia is being criticized as a “hypocrite” and faces a challenge to return a sizable donation from a Jeffrey Epstein-linked billionaire or drop one of his main lines of attack on Republicans as representing the “Epstein class.”Ossoff has framed his re-election effort as pushing back on the influence of wealthy elites and getting big money out of politics. However, his campaign received the maximum legal contribution of $7,000 from Silicon Valley billionaire Reid Hoffman, a venture capitalist who previously admitted to visiting Epstein’s private island. Hoffman also donated $1 million to an Ossoff-linked political action committee, New Engagement PAC.Hoffman has not been accused of any wrongdoing. But Ossoff’s Republican challenger, Rep. Mike Collins, says that accepting donations from Hoffman shows Ossoff “has been nothing but a hypocrite the entire time.”In an interview with Fox News Digital, Collins said he is giving Ossoff a very simple choice: return the Reid Hoffman donation or explain why the “Epstein class” does not include one of his own maximum-dollar donors.DEM ‘EPSTEIN CLASS’ ATTACK BACKFIRES AS TOP CANDIDATES FUNDED BY EPSTEIN-TIED BILLIONAIREOn the campaign trail, Ossoff has railed against American politics for “running on secret money, corporate money, billionaire money” and accused the Trump administration of taking “American corruption to spectacular new heights.” He released a statement earlier this year, saying, “We were told that MAGA was for working-class Americans. But this is a government of, by, and for the ultra-rich… this is the Epstein class, ruling our country. They are the elites they pretend to hate.”However, one of Ossoff’s donors, Hoffman, a Seattle-based billionaire, has previously admitted to spending a night on Epstein’s Caribbean island. Their first known meeting was on July 19, 2013, almost five years after Epstein pleaded guilty in Florida to state charges of soliciting prostitution and procuring a minor for prostitution. According to Massachusetts Institute of Technology records, Hoffman, then a member of the university’s Media Lab Advisory Council, met with Epstein alongside other faculty members on campus.The next year, Hoffman visited Epstein’s private island, Little Saint James, and stayed overnight, the Wall Street Journal reported. Business Insider reported that in a recent podcast appearance, Hoffman admitted to staying one night at Epstein’s island as part of an MIT fundraising trip. Regarding his visit, he quipped, “Note to self: Google before going.”The Wall Street Journal reported that later in 2014, Hoffman sent Epstein ice cream, writing that it was for him or “for the girls.”Hoffman has since apologized for his association with Epstein, saying that “by agreeing to participate in any fundraising activity where Epstein was present, I helped to repair his reputation and perpetuate injustice. For this, I am deeply regretful.”DEMS DESCEND ON POSH ISLAND GETAWAY PACKED WITH DEEP-POCKETED DONORS AS MIDTERMS CLOSE INThis election cycle, Hoffman donated $7,000 to Ossoff’s campaign.In August, Hoffman also donated $1 million to New Engagement PAC, a Georgia-based political organization run by former Ossoff senior advisor Alexander Edelman. New Engagement has spent nearly $500,000 on media opposing Collins, according to September FEC filings reviewed by Fox News Digital.Fox News Digital reached out to New Engagement PAC and Edelman for comment.Collins told Fox News Digital that Ossoff’s acceptance of Hoffman’s donations is “sending a plain and clear message to the voters of Georgia.””He doesn’t care about our state; he doesn’t represent the people of the state or the values of our state. If he did, he certainly wouldn’t be associating himself with some of the Epstein friends out there, just taking money directly, maxed out, from Reid Hoffman who was in the Epstein files as an Epstein friend,” he said.He noted, “I could see it now if somebody gave you 20 bucks and you didn’t know who it was, but when somebody maxes out to your campaign directly, you know who they are, but yet you still take it. And then you turn around, and you go out there like a hypocrite, and you talk about President Trump and the Epstein files when you, in fact, are tied to it.”OBAMA STRATEGIST TURNS ON RISING DEM STAR OVER VIRAL TRUMP ATTACK: ‘GRATUITOUS AND UNNECESSARY’Collins argued that Ossoff, widely considered a rising star in the Democratic Party, is actually using his Georgia Senate campaign as a launching pad for a future presidential run.”It’s very clear that this guy is just using Georgia as a platform,” he alleged. “He is going to get as much money as he can. He does not care where it comes from.””So, we are here to condemn and demand that John Ossoff condemn Reid Hoffman, refund that donation, and tell Reid Hoffman we demand that you stop funding his campaign.”SIGN UP TO GET THE POLITICS NEWSLETTERFox News Digital reached out to Hoffman through Greylock, a venture-capital firm at which he currently sits as a partner. Fox News Digital also reached out to Ossoff’s campaign for comment.