Melinda Gates backs Biden in first-ever endorsement, while Winklevoss twins back ‘pro-crypto’ Trump

Philanthropist Melinda French Gates has given Democratic incumbent Joe Biden her first ever presidential endorsement, citing his support for reproductive rights among other issues.

Gates this year left the charitable foundation she co-founded with her former husband, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, with $12.5 billion for her own charity work.

She said the contrast between Biden and former President Donald Trump, his Republican rival in the Nov. 5 election, “couldn’t be greater, and the stakes couldn’t be higher.”

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“Women deserve a leader who cares about the issues they face and is committed to protecting their safety, their health, their economic power, their reproductive rights, and their ability to freely and fully participate in a functioning democracy,” she wrote on social media platform X on Thursday.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation donated about $1.8 million in the 2020 election, most of it to Democrats.

In a CNN opinion piece on Thursday, Gates elaborated further, saying Trump’s first term in office endangered the health of women, their safety and freedom.

“And he deliberately appointed Supreme Court justices who would overturn Roe v. Wade, which resulted in a decision with far-reaching and catastrophic consequences for women and families,” her CNN piece added.

The court in 2022 overturned the 50-year-old ruling guaranteeing the right to an abortion and ushered in a string of restrictive state measures. Three justices appointed by Trump were in the 5-4 majority.

The Trump campaign had no immediate comment.

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Winklevoss twins backing Trump

Meanwhile, the billionaire Winklevoss twins, founders of cryptocurrency company Gemini, said on Thursday they had each donated $1 million in bitcoin to support Trump, the latest crypto executives to get behind the Republican presidential candidate.

Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, whose crypto firm in February entered settlement agreements with US and New York state financial regulators after accusations of wrongdoing, announced the donations in posts on X.

They did not specify where the donations were sent.

Tyler Winklevoss posted that Biden’s Democratic administration had “openly declared war on crypto” and that Trump was “pro-Bitcoin, pro-crypto, and pro-business.”

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Trump has presented himself as a champion for crypto, including at a San Francisco fundraiser this month with tech executives during which he slammed Democrats’ attempts to regulate the crypto sector.

The crypto industry is increasingly trying to influence US politicians as it faces heightened scrutiny from regulators, especially since bankruptcies at major crypto firms in 2022 spooked investors, exposed fraud and misconduct, and left millions of investors out of pocket.

In February, the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) said Gemini would return at least $1.1 billion to customers of its beleaguered lending program due to a third party’s bankruptcy and pay a fine of $37 million for unsafe and unsound practices as part of a settlement with the regulator.

Gemini also settled a lawsuit from the Securities and Exchange Commission that it had engaged in alleged unsafe and unsound practices for $21 million in February, without admitting or denying wrongdoing in the agreement.

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The Winklevoss twins shot to fame after they sued Facebook and its CEO Mark Zuckerberg, alleging he had stolen their idea for the social networking site. They agreed to a settlement in 2008 in which they received cash and Facebook stock.

The Biden administration did not immediately respond to a request for comment.