Democrats’ massive online fundraising platform ActBlue has admitted to Congress that it didn’t automatically block donations made with foreign-bought gift cards until very recently, meaning that the Democrats effectively used foreign funding for their 2024 campaigns.
BREAKING: ActBlue was accepting foreign gift cards until September.
This is ILLEGAL.
The @HouseAdmin Committee will continue this important investigation into ActBlue next Congress.
Our work here is just getting started. https://t.co/ffDc5I7j4H
— Speaker Mike Johnson (@SpeakerJohnson) December 11, 2024
House Administration Committee Chairman Rep. Bryan Steil (R-WI), whose committee oversees election integrity, revealed in a statement to Just The News on Tuesday that ActBlue had been subpoenaed for the information and had handed over documents confirming that they had only made the major change to their donor verification policies in September.
That policy update on September 9 made it so that ActBlue had to “automatically reject donations that use foreign prepaid/gift cards, domestic gift cards, are from high-risk/sanctioned countries, and have the highest level of risk as determined” by ActBlue’s solution provider, Sift. This means that prior to September 9, ActBlue was likely illegally receiving foreign funds and using that money to fund Democrat campaigns and causes.
Remember when the very unpopular Kamala got record ActBlue donations and we said it was due to foreign money laundering?
And media said we were conspiracy theorists?
Turns out we were right…once again pic.twitter.com/YB3RcR38Az
— DC_Draino (@DC_Draino) December 10, 2024
The update came just three days after Steil put forward legislation titled “Secure Handling of Internet Electronic Donations (SHIELD) Act on September 6, which is designed to ensure that foreign money is not being used for online political fundraising.
Speaking to Just The News, Steil noted that the update was a “positive step” — but highlighted the fact that prior to the policy update, ActBlue was not automatically rejecting donations made with foreign gift cards.
“While this is a positive step forward, there is still more work to be done to ensure our campaign finance system is fully protected from fraud and unlawful foreign interference,” the House Administration Committee chairman said. “The documents provided to the Committee also confirm that ActBlue still accepted these concerning payment methods in July, a period when Democrats raised a record number of campaign money before implementing these safeguards.
Earlier this year, Steil revealed that the committee had been investigating whether four of the United States’ adversaries — China, Iran, Russia, and Venezuela — had been using ActBlue to interfere in the election by funneling illicit foreign money into Democrat campaigns and causes. Several thousand suspicious donations to state attorneys general were uncovered by the committee in five different states, which prompted an expanded investigation in 19 states.
Steil and House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. James Comer (R-KY) have also requested suspicious activity reports filed by banks related to ActBlue, demanding documents about any flags raised on money flowing through the Democrat fundraising platform. Comer has confirmed that there are likely hundreds of these reports to review. This investigation follows shocking reports of fraudulent donations that included data showing tens of thousands of small donations under the names of elderly Americans despite the fact that they had either never donated or only donated a few times.
Of course, ActBlue has referred to all of this news as “disinformation.”
“We rigorously protect donors’ information by maintaining a robust security program and strict fraud prevention measures – often beyond what is required by law,” the donation platform claimed in a statement. “ActBlue holds itself to the highest legal and ethical standards, and all contributions made through ActBlue are disclosed in full compliance with federal, state, and local laws.”
Steil went on to explain to Just The News that investigating the foreign funding of ActBlue is important, but what is even more important is to focus on pushing through legislation that closes all loopholes that would allow bad actors to cheat when it comes to political fundraising.
“We must keep working to ensure that no foreign funds were illegally funneled into U.S. political campaigns during this election cycle. It is also critical that we enact lasting reforms to prevent illicit contributions in future election cycles,” he said, adding: “Advancing legislation like the SHIELD Act will permanently close these vulnerable loopholes and safeguard the integrity of our campaign finance system.”
