WASHINGTON—The investigation by Republican lawmakers into ActBlue, one of the leading fundraising platforms used by Democratic candidates and organizations in the United States, intensified following the release of a new congressional report questioning its mechanisms for detecting foreign contributions.
The House Judiciary, Administration, and Oversight
Committees released a third report on the case on September 16. According to
their findings, ActBlue used insufficient controls to prevent potentially
illegal contributions from abroad.
The report notes, among other things, that the passport
verification system used by the platform did not necessarily require a valid
U.S. passport number. The investigators also maintain that employees tasked
with detecting potential fraud were instructed to give certain donors “the
benefit of the doubt,” even when red flags existed.
U.S. federal election law prohibits foreign nationals from
making certain contributions, donations, or expenditures related to U.S.
elections. Therefore, the Republican committees believe that the practices
described in their investigation could have allowed prohibited funds to enter
the political financing system.
House Speaker Mike Johnson has endorsed the investigation
and accused ActBlue of allowing foreign contributions and failing to provide
all the information requested by Congress.
The investigation has also generated controversy due to the
testimony of current and former ActBlue employees. A previous committee report
noted that five individuals who appeared before Congress invoked the Fifth
Amendment during their testimony, using it collectively 146 times.
The House committees have made it clear that the
investigation will continue and that they will seek to determine whether there
were illegal foreign contributions, deliberate failures in the verification
mechanisms, or possible violations of U.S. election laws.