Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (RI) says Attorney General Pam Bondi implantation But hearing On Tuesday he said accepting a campaign contribution from Reid Hoffman, a major Democratic donor who knew convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, was “simply not true.”
During the Senate Judiciary Committee, Bondy accused Whitehouse of accepting money from Hoffman, calling him “one of Epstein’s closest confidants” when the Democratic senator asked him whether the Justice Department had investigated suspicious activity reports for Epstein-related financial transactions.
When Whitehouse asked how many “hundreds” of suspicious activity reports related to Epstein’s accounts were reviewed under Bondi’s leadership, she tried to turn the tables on Senate Democrats.
“You took money, I believe you did? – from Reid Hoffman, one of Epstein’s closest confidants, not just once, but twice, in 2018 and 2024, if that’s correct,” Bondi said during his testimony before the Judiciary panel.
Whitehouse did not immediately respond, but her staff later reviewed her campaign finance reports and found no evidence that Hoffman had contributed to them.
“Their suggestion that I received campaign contributions from this alleged Epstein Close confidant is not true. All they had to do was look at my public campaign finance reports and see that this person appears nowhere on them,” Whitehouse told CNN’s Erin Burnett in an interview Tuesday.
“All they had to do was look at my public campaign finance reports and see that this person doesn’t appear anywhere on them,” Whitehouse said.
Whitehouse left the room during Bondy’s testimony, but then returned toward the end of the hearing in an effort to correct the record and dispute the Attorney General’s claim.
But the presiding chair, Republican Sen. Ashley Moody (Fla.), refused to grant Whitehouse’s request for a point of personal privilege to correct the record, even though she is the second-most civil Democrat on the panel.
Whitehouse said, referring to Bondy, “He said I got several contributions from a guy named Reid Hoffman. So we asked. I never got a contribution from Reid Hoffman.”
“She’s certainly misleading the committee,” Whitehouse said of the attorney general.
