BY: SHAWN FLEETWOOD | November 02, 2023
3 MIN READ
Reprinted in its entirety from the Federalist:
Republicans on the Committee on House Administration are probing a prominent left-wing fundraising platform over its “lenient” donor verification practices that allegedly allow unlawful monies to fund Democrat political causes.
Authored by Rep. Bryan Steil, R-Wis., the letter sent to ActBlue Chief Executive Officer Regina Wallace-Jones requests information regarding the platform’s “lenient donor verification standards,” which Steil says have allegedly permitted “malicious actors” to “funnel unlawful funds to political committees” in key elections throughout the country. As noted by Fox News, ActBlue “amasses small-dollar donations … and then funnels them to various Democrat candidates and causes.”
Months before the 2020 election, data obtained by Fox showed that almost half of “all 2019 donations to ActBlue were made by people claiming to be unemployed,” raising serious questions about whether the donations are potentially illegal funds coming from foreign donors. As specified by federal law, foreign nationals are explicitly prohibited from contributing to U.S. political campaigns and elections.
An Epoch Times report published last month also flagged many irregular contributions siphoned through ActBlue to back the Democrat candidate in this year’s Wisconsin Supreme Court race.
“In some cases, reports allege that such persons are using untraceable, prepaid cards to ‘wash’ otherwise impermissible funds into apparently clean contributions, possibly including money from foreign sources,” the letter reads. “Allegations also suggest that malicious actors employ standard identity theft practices to send unlawful funds through ActBlue platform users, with the names of actual persons used to make contributions without their knowledge or consent.”
Unfortunately, for Americans concerned about the integrity of U.S. elections, the use of foreign dark money to benefit Democrats isn’t a new concept. As The Federalist’s Mark Hemingway reported in RealClearInvestigations, Hansjörg Wyss, a Swiss billionaire, has been indirectly boosting Democrats’ electioneering scheme for years. Americans for Public Trust — a conservative watchdog group that published a report detailing Wyss’ election interference earlier this year — filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission against Wyss in May 2021 for allegedly violating the Federal Election Campaign Act.
In his letter to Wallace-Jones, Steil is furthermore requesting that ActBlue address a series of questions regarding the platform’s donor verification procedures. Specifically, Steil is probing whether ActBlue has “chosen to require the provision of a credit card security code or other identifying information as a condition of using its platform to make a contribution to a political committee” and whether the platform will “take any voluntary steps to ensure that only real persons are able to make contributions to political committees” that use its services, among other queries.
Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He previously served as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood