The Left is always up to something suspicious. But this time Republicans have sniffed them out.
And the House GOP has dropped the hammer on Democrats after targeting them for this fraudulent scheme.
In a significant move, the Republican-led House Oversight Committee has intensified its scrutiny of ActBlue, a prominent Democratic fundraising platform.
On Friday, the committee sent a letter to the Treasury Department, seeking access to all relevant Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) as part of an investigation into the platform’s “potentially fraudulent” donations.
James Comer (R-Ky.), Chairman of the House Oversight Committee, addressed Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen in the letter, requesting that the department provide SARs dating from January 1, 2023, to the present that involve ActBlue.
Comer expressed concerns that the reported suspicious activities could include offenses such as “money laundering, counterfeit credit/debit card, credit card or debit card fraud, false statements, wire transfer fraud, or identity theft.”
“Federal law prohibits contributions made in the name of another person, and for good reason,” Comer wrote, pointing to the legal implications of failing to properly vet donations made through online platforms.
He emphasized that the committee is concerned about the possibility that online fundraising platforms have made it easier for bad actors to exploit federal campaign finance laws through fraudulent contributions.
This investigation is not entirely new. The House Administration Committee had already initiated a probe into ActBlue following lawsuits and reports from GOP states. These lawsuits allege that ActBlue accepted massive sums of contributions from individuals who were completely unaware that they had donated.
“In Virginia, reports of contribution activity facilitated through the ActBlue platform included ‘some cases in which single donors made tens of thousands of separate donations worth hundreds of thousands of dollars,’” Comer said, while citing a report from the Washington Examiner.
The attorneys general of Missouri, Wyoming, and Texas have also taken action, investigating “dummy” accounts linked to suspicious donations.
One major vulnerability of ActBlue, which critics argue opened the door to fraud, is the platform’s previous lack of a requirement for Card Verification Value (CVV) codes for online credit or debit card transactions.
While ActBlue has since reversed this policy, the absence of this safeguard may have allowed foreign nationals and others using prepaid debit cards or gift cards to contribute funds illegally — a clear violation of federal law.
Last month, Rep. Bryan Steil (R-Wis.), who chairs the House Administration Committee, called on the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to get involved. He urged the FEC to create new rules that would strengthen the verification process for online donations.
“Following widespread allegations of fraudulent donations being reported to the FEC by ActBlue, one of the largest fundraising platforms in the country, this emergency rule-making is necessary to reassure the American people that ActBlue is taking the necessary steps to protect its donors,” Steil wrote in his petition to the FEC Chair Sean Cooksey and vice chair Ellen Weintraub.
“These issues present a serious loophole to the transparency and integrity of the campaign donation process, and an emergency rulemaking is required to rectify these issues,” he added.
The investigation into ActBlue has gained momentum in recent months, in part due to whistleblowers who informed the committee about the platform’s failure to implement basic security measures, such as using CVV codes for transactions.
During the 2021-2022 election cycle, ActBlue raised more than $2.2 billion for Democratic candidates and causes, according to OpenSecrets.com, a nonprofit organization that tracks money in politics. This significant sum only highlights the potential impact of any fraudulent donations on the political landscape.
As the investigation unfolds, both lawmakers and the public will be watching closely to see whether the FEC and other government agencies take action to close these alleged loopholes and ensure the integrity of online fundraising platforms like ActBlue.
Stay tuned to The Federalist Wire.
