A congressional investigation into online Democratic campaign contribution platform ActBlue is ongoing, with a new report from joint interim staff and a letter to the organization’s CEO requesting additional documents.
The platform aroused Republican suspicions leading up to the 2024 presidential election, with some elected officials raising concerns that Democrats might be using the platform to circumvent campaign finance laws.
The newly released staff report claims that despite knowing that “both foreign and domestic” actors were using the platform fraudulently, ActBlue executives and staff did not vigilantly work to combat the platform’s exploitation.
“Twice [in 2024] – once in April and once in September – ActBlue changed its fraud-prevention standards to make them ‘more lenient’” and later “attempted to hide the changes” to avoid looking suspicious, according to the report.
“For example, ActBlue’s training guide for new fraud-prevention employees instructed them to ‘look for reasons to accept contributions,’ rather than err on the side of flagging suspicious donations,” the report reads.
Recent news raises additional questions about ActBlue’s ability to comply with relevant federal election and campaign finance laws, according to a news release from the House Judiciary Committee.
It cites reporting from The New York Times about “at least seven senior staff members, including ActBlue’s ‘highest-ranking legal officer,’” having resigned since late February.
The chairmen of the Committee on House Administration, the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and the Judiciary Committee wrote to ActBlue CEO Regina Wallace-Jones for additional documentation regarding ActBlue’s legal compliance.
“ActBlue’s internal turmoil, lack of a functioning legal team, possible retaliatory actions, and failure to take fraud seriously raise a host of new questions about the platform’s ability to deter fraud and comply with legal requirements,” wrote the chairmen.
They asked to receive the documents and schedule two transcribed interviews by April 16.
