A new U.S. House report detailed potential illegal fraud activity on the ActBlue Democratic fundraising platform.
The House Judiciary Committee, the Committee on House Administration, and the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform released a joint interim staff report titled, “Fraud on ActBlue: How the Democrats’ Top Fundraising Platform Opens the Door for Illegal Election Contributions.”
According to Republicans, this report reveals that ActBlue made its fraud-prevention rules “more lenient” twice in 2024 – even though there is extensive fraud on the platform, including from foreign sources.
Republican members of Congress also said internal documents show that ActBlue executives and staff are aware that both foreign and domestic fraudulent actors are exploiting the platform but do not take the threat seriously. Republicans say they attempted to hide the changes to avoid sparking discussions about fraud on the platform.
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. Internal communications further reveal that, rather than seeking to reduce or eliminate fraud, ActBlue’s chief fraud-prevention official was willing to accept 10 percent more fraud while focusing on DEI. Additionally, in a thirty-day window during September and October 2024, ActBlue detected 237 separate donations made from foreign IP addresses using domestic prepaid cards.
Chairmen Jim Jordan, Bryan Steil, and James Comer also sent a letter to the CEO of ActBlue requesting additional documents and transcribed interviews with two ActBlue staff members.
The Republicans said ActBlue’s internal turmoil, lack of a functioning legal team, possible retaliatory actions, and failure to take fraud seriously raise new questions about the platform’s ability to deter fraud and comply with federal election law.
“As a political action committee (PAC), ActBlue must take a variety of steps to comply with federal election law,” the congressional letter stated. “ActBlue must make filings with the Federal Election Commission (FEC), place ‘disclaimer’ and ‘authorization’ notices on solicitations, and comply with laws and regulations governing the handling of ‘illegal’ or ‘questionable’ contributions.”
“These developments are even more concerning in light of reporting that ActBlue has maintained poor anti-fraud practices that may have allowed bad actors to make fraudulent political donations, including from foreign sources. Fraudulent political donations corrupt American elections and could amount to interstate criminal conduct.”
As they use the issue against Democrats, Republicans also said the Committees remain deeply committed to protecting the integrity of American elections and will continue investigating to inform potential legislative reforms aimed at improving and strengthening our democracy. They added that oversight is crucial to ensure that American elections are free, fair, and decided by Americans alone.
Read the full joint interim staff report and appendix online.
