Rep. Mike Collins tries to link Sen. Jon Ossoff to Jeffrey Epstein. Then Ossoff delivers a Uno reverse: ‘You voted to cover up the evidence’

A Georgia Senate debate on Tuesday turned tense when Rep. Mike Collins brought up deceased sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein in an attempt to tie Sen. Jon Ossoff to the case through a major donor. Collins focused on Reid Hoffman, the LinkedIn co-founder who has contributed to Ossoff and other Democrats and who appears in Epstein-related records.

Those records, released after Congress acted last November, contain emails and other communications involving Epstein and a range of prominent figures. One 2014 message from Hoffman to Epstein described gifts Hoffman had sent, including an item meant for the private island. According to Mediaite, Hoffman wrote: “1. ice cream. if you have any interest, you should try – else for the girls. 2. something that may strike your funny bone for the island.”

Collins used the email and other details about Hoffman’s visits to press Ossoff on stage. Ossoff answered by shifting the focus to Collins’ own votes on whether to force the release of the Epstein files, stating at one point that Collins had voted to cover up the evidence.

The candidates traded claims about a donor’s 2014 email and two congressional votes on the files

Collins told Ossoff that Hoffman ranked among the senator’s largest donors and had stayed both on Epstein’s island and at his Manhattan townhouse. Collins said, “You know, John, one of your largest donors is Reid Hoffman. He slept on the Epstein island. He stayed at his Manhattan townhouse. He sent Epstein ice cream and said it’s for the girls.” He added that Ossoff claims to oppose what Collins called the Epstein class, yet “this call is coming from inside the house. And the Epstein class is on stage right now. And it’s you.” Collins asked Ossoff to condemn Hoffman and apologize for hypocrisy.

Ossoff replied by questioning the advice Collins had received before raising the topic. The senator said, “Mike, who on your team advised you to raise the Epstein files? You voted to cover up the evidence, Mike.” He told viewers that Congress had already known the basic facts of the case, including that 14-year-old girls had been raped, when the earlier vote occurred.

Ossoff stated that Collins voted against compelling the Justice Department to release the material “because Donald Trump told you to.” He noted that Trump “is named a thousand times in the Epstein files.” Ossoff pinned Collins’ vote on Trump, who Marjorie Taylor Greene claims fought the release of the files.

Ossoff then asked whether Collins had spoken with any of the victims and what answer he would give them about the vote, adding, “The vote is public record. You voted to cover up the Epstein files. You should explain that vote to Jeffrey Epstein’s victims right now.”

Collins answered that Ossoff had avoided the question about Hoffman. He said Ossoff would not respond “because he’s part of that crowd. That’s the people he caters to: people like Reid Hoffman.” Collins described the situation as “Disgusting” and called Hoffman “a data center billionaire Epstein elite class” that is “part of John Ossoff.”

The November vote produced a bill requiring the Department of Justice to release all Epstein files; President Trump signed it, and Collins supported that measure. In a separate July 2025 vote, Collins had opposed a different effort to compel the same release. Ossoff accused Collins of voting to cover up the evidence, a charge that matches what Jamie Raskin said about a Justice Department cover-up. Polls have shown Ossoff leading Collins by a high single-digit margin or, in some surveys, by double digits.