The New York Times Faces Criticism for Downplaying Reid Hoffman’s Role in Epstein Files

“The people who've donated hundreds of millions of dollars to the Democrat Party and have paid for dirty tricks against Trump, they basically are spared,” said David Sacks.

Last month, more than three million pages of long-anticipated Epstein files were finally released. This has triggered a media scramble with journalists poring over emails, court filings, and other correspondence in search of connections previously unknown to the public.

The New York Times recently published their own story examining Jeffrey Epstein’s ties to Silicon Valley, complete with long passages devoted to right-of-center figures like Elon Musk and Peter Thiel. What the paper did not do—at least not in any serious or proportional way—was explore the role of billionaire Democrat megadonor Reid Hoffman. 

This is despite the fact that Hoffman’s relationship with Epstein appears to have been deeper, longer, and more operational than that of almost any other Silicon Valley figure. But readers of the Times would hardly know it.

On a recent episode of the All-In Podcast, venture capitalist David Sacks called out the Times directly for a perceived willingness to protect Hoffman.

“The number one person in the Epstein files from Silicon Valley [is] Reid Hoffman,”  said Sacks. “Mentioned 2,600 times; had a multi-year relationship with Epstein; they called each other very good friends; they did deals together… Reid was the one who introduced Epstein to Peter Thiel and Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg. [He] organized that famous dinner. How can you not mention that as the root of Epstein’s involvement in Silicon Valley?”

Sacks also points out that Hoffman “stayed at not just the island, but the townhouse and the New Mexico ranch.” The island, of course, refers to Little Saint James—known colloquially as “Pedophile Island”—which a number of Epstein’s victims attest were trafficked and sexually exploited as children.

Records indicate Hoffman made at least two trips to Epstein’s island in 2014, though Hoffman denies any wrongdoing. There have been numerous requests to have Hoffman removed from the Board of Microsoft Corporation based on these findings, but Microsoft has not taken any action. Hoffman has held the position since 2017.

“The New York Times clearly has a list of people they consider approved targets. They're all right-coded people like Elon or Peter Thiel… But the people who've donated hundreds of millions of dollars to the Democrat Party and have paid for dirty tricks against Trump, they basically are spared,” said Sacks.

According to campaign finance data, Hoffman has poured tens of millions of dollars into left-leaning causes and Democratic political efforts, with estimates showing he has given around $17.7 million to groups supporting President Biden alone and more than $40 million to left-leaning political efforts since 2020. He is also a backer of the Hopewell Fund, described as “a secretive dark money juggernaut” which spent more than $1 billion aiding then-candidate Joe Biden’s 2020 Presidential campaign.

FEC and electoral records also show Hoffman has contributed sizable sums to Democratic super PACs such as House Majority PAC and Senate Majority PAC, along with independent expenditure committees backing moderate Democratic candidates and opposing Trump-aligned conservatives. 

After the failed assassination of President Trump in July 2024, Hoffman made headlines for publicly expressing his wish for Trump to have been made an “actual martyr.”

It is no surprise that independent analyses—including one study by AllSides—consistently rank the New York Times as having a strong left-leaning slant. Additionally, a Harvard University study of media coverage during Donald Trump’s first 100 days found that The Times’ reporting on Trump was 87 percent negative. That pattern may help explain why, in the context of the Epstein files, reporting has not cut into Hoffman in the way that it has for, say, Musk.

By contrast, the Wall Street Journal took a markedly different approach. Its February 7–8, 2026 print edition devoted the entire front page to Jeffrey Epstein and several alleged associates—and Reid Hoffman was prominently included. The list also featured Bill Gates, Peter Attia, Brad Karp, and Deepak Chopra.

Now, criticism of the New York Times and their coverage of the Epstein files is ricocheting across the podcast world. 

“Here we have this bombshell… almost like an introduction into how this world actually works,” said libertarian comedian and commentator Dave Smith on his Part of the Problem podcast. “And then you have people who claim to be journalists who are actively trying to get you to not figure this out. That really says something about who can work at the New York Times.”

Smith went on to say that the Times’ instinct with Epstein—and any other similar story that they’re not particularly interested in covering—seems to be “discredit, cover it up, move on.” 

“NYT is a scumbag publication,” Sacks wrote on Twitter/X.