ActBlue, which is a funding application that all Democrats in Alaska use, is under investigation by Congress for its probable use of foreign donations to Democrat candidates, such as Rep. Mary Peltola, the Alaska Democratic Party, and Democrats in the Alaska Legislature.
On Tuesday, the Committee on House Administration’s Chairman Bryan Steil announced findings of his subpoena of ActBlue that reveal that only in September of 2024 did ActBlue create policies 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, a company called Sift, an artificial intelligence-powered fraud detection service.
“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,” Congressman Steil 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.”
Steil is still working to create transparency in campaign funding to prevent foreign funds from being illegally funneled into U..S. political campaigns.
Background of the committee’s work
On Oct. 31, 2023, following reports that ActBlue was accepting political contributions without a three-digit card verification value (CVV), Chairman Steil sent a letter demanding answers on ActBlue’s practices, questioning if they are complying with federal campaign finance laws and preventing foreign and illegal contributions.
On Nov. 27, 2023, ActBlue responded to Chairman Steil’s letter saying it did not require a CVV in order to contribute on their website.
On Sept. 6, 2024, Chairman Steil introduced H.R. 9488, the Secure Handling of Internet Electronic Donations (SHIELD) Act. The legislation prohibits political committees from accepting an online contribution unless the contributor provides the CVV and billing address associated with the card and from accepting online contributions from prepaid cards. It also adopts a top legislative recommendation from the FEC to prohibit individuals from knowingly aiding or abetting a person making a contribution in the name of another person.
On September 11, 2024, the SHIELD Act passed the Committee on House Administration by a voice-vote.
On Sept. 18, 2024, Chairman Steil sent letters to the Attorneys General from Texas, Virginia, Arkansas, Florida, and Missouri, updating them on the Committee’s investigation into ActBlue, a major democratic fundraising platform. Along with the letter, the Attorneys General received the data and evidence that the Committee has collected over the course of almost a year.
On Oct. 28, 2024, Chairman Steil sent a letter to ActBlue demanding documents and information related to the platform’s donor verification policies and potential vulnerabilities that foreign actors may exploit to illegally participate in the U.S. political process.
On Oct. 30, 2024, Chairman Steil issued a subpoena to ActBlue for documents related to ActBlue’s donor verification policies and the potential for foreign actors to use the platform to launder illicit money into U.S. political campaigns.
The investigation is ongoing.
Investigative journalist James O’Keefe, founder of Project Veritas, blew open the ActBlue business model, when he interviewed people across the country whose names were being used as funding “mules” to candidates, unbeknownst to the supposed donors. The practice of using “straw donors” is a form of identity theft sometimes called “smurfing.”
In October, House Speaker Mike Johnson announced a website where people can check to see if they have been victimized by ActBlue or other funding application that funnels funds to political campaigns.
