Dmitri Mehlhorn, top adviser to Democratic megadonor Reid Hoffman, suggested in an email to journalists that the recent shooting at a Trump rally might have been staged to benefit the former president. Mehlhorn compared the incident to tactics used by Vladimir Putin and Hamas, implying it was a false flag operation. Following backlash, Mehlhorn apologized, stating he sent the email without consulting his team and regretted distracting from the issue of political violence. Hoffman has been a significant financial supporter of anti-Trump efforts, and Mehlhorn's remarks have added to the controversy. The email has sparked discussions and criticisms about the ethics of such conspiracy theories in political discourse.