House Administration Committee Chairman Brian Steil announced that he will refer the findings of his ongoing investigation into the Democrat fundraising platform ActBlue to the incoming Trump Justice Department. Steil believes that the new Attorney General, Pam Bondi, if confirmed, will be eager to investigate the Democratic fundraising powerhouse over allegations that it failed to implement adequate security measures to prevent illegal foreign money from entering U.S. political campaigns.
“Once Pam Bondi comes in as attorney general under the Trump administration, we then have a partner at the United States Department of Justice to look at this, to do the investigation into bad actors, and to hold anyone who is engaged in this activity accountable,” Steil told the Just the News, No Noise TV show on Thursday. “The good news is President [Donald} Trump’s coming to office in just a few short weeks. We’re going to have an opportunity to move forward on the prosecutorial side, and then we in Congress have to continue this work, moving legislation forward.”
ActBlue, for years, has faced questions about its fundraising tactics after undercover journalists, including James O’Keefe, revealed alleged donors — many of whom were elderly — who purportedly made hundreds or thousands of small-dollar donations via ActBlue but who had no knowledge of ever having contributed money. Steil’s committee has investigated ActBlue over concerns that lax security measures may have allowed foreign entities to donate to U.S. political campaigns illegally.
In October, Steil and Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson, a fellow Republican, sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, FBI Director Christopher Wray, and Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines, raising concerns that four U.S. adversaries may have used the platform to make donations.
“We write to you to raise an urgent concern regarding potential illicit election funding by foreign actors,” the lawmakers wrote Yellen in a letter dated Thursday. “CHA has been investigating claims that foreign actors, primarily from Iran, Russia, Venezuela, and China, may be using ActBlue to launder illicit money into U.S. political campaigns.” They also said: “Our investigation has indicated that these actors may be exploiting existing U.S. donors by making straw donations without their knowledge.”
The lawmakers specifically requested access to any Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) related to funds processed through the fundraising platform, generated by any U.S. financial institution as part of their anti-money laundering efforts. ActBlue recently affirmed to Congress that it has updated its donor verification policy 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 its solution provider, Sift.
