LinkedIn Founder Offers Up to $5M for Trump Tax Returns

A crowdfunding effort to get Donald Trump to release his taxes is offering the same reward Trump dangled when he wanted to see President Obama's birth certificate: a large donation to charity. LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman has thrown his support behind Marine Corps veteran Pete Kiernan's plan, offering up to $5 million, which will be donated to 10 veterans' charities if Trump releases his income tax returns, CNET reports. Hoffman says he will pledge five times what Kiernan raises at Crowdpac.com, with a $5 million ceiling.

Kiernan, 26, served in Afghanistan and has "the moral authority to challenge Trump to demonstrate his own commitment to the core American values of transparency and accountability," Hoffman writes in a post at Medium.com, accusing Trump of holding back his tax returns as a "bargaining chip." By releasing the returns before the final debate on Oct. 19, Trump can "help voters make more informed decisions on Election Day and support many worthy veterans' organizations at the same time," he writes. (A Facebook co-founder has donated $20 million to efforts to stop Trump.)