The Democrat Party struggles to find any footing. It’s wandering with no path forward.
Now it’s been made worse because Congress sent top Democrat officials an eyebrow-raising subpoena.
Democrats’ Dark Money Machine & ActBlue Faces Subpoenas Over Shady Fundraising
The House of Representatives have turned up the heat on ActBlue, the Democrats’ go-to online fundraising juggernaut, issuing subpoenas Tuesday to two key witnesses as part of a probe into whether the platform was exploited by foreign actors to funnel illegal donations into the 2024 election.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, House Oversight Chairman James Comer, and House Administration Chairman Bryan Steil spearheaded the subpoenas, targeting former ActBlue Vice President of Customer Service Alyssa Twomey and a senior workflow specialist. The witnesses are compelled to testify by July 15, following their lawyer’s refusal to allow voluntary interviews, citing an ongoing Justice Department investigation into ActBlue, according to correspondence obtained by Just the News.
“The Committees’ investigation has a clear – and important – legislative purpose,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter accompanying the subpoenas. “Congress has a specific interest in ensuring that bad actors, including foreign actors, cannot make fraudulent or illegal political donations through online fundraising platforms.” The letter pulls no punches, accusing ActBlue of adopting a dangerously lax approach to fraud prevention during the 2024 election cycle.
Evidence uncovered by congressional investigators paints a troubling picture of ActBlue’s operations. The platform, which powered Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign to raise nearly $47 million in its opening hours, allegedly weakened its fraud protections not once, but twice, in 2024, despite knowing about foreign attempts to slip illicit donations through its system. “The Committees have found significant evidence that ActBlue had ‘a fundamentally unserious approach to fraud prevention’ during this period,” the letter stated.
Internal ActBlue documents reveal a culture of negligence. A training guide for new fraud-prevention staff reportedly instructed employees to “look for reasons to accept contributions” rather than scrutinize potentially fraudulent donations with skepticism. Worse, the committees found that top fraud-prevention staff, including Twomey, acknowledged multiple ways bad actors could bypass ActBlue’s safeguards to make illegal contributions.
Since its launch in 2004, ActBlue has cemented itself as the Democratic Party’s fundraising powerhouse, revolutionizing how liberal candidates and causes rake in cash. But its meteoric rise has come with a dark underbelly. Last fall, reports surfaced that ActBlue’s weak donor verification standards may have allowed illegal donations to slip through, including schemes involving gift cards and prepaid credit cards used to launder money.
Congressional investigators also flagged disturbing patterns in ActBlue’s donation records, such as contributions from donors who couldn’t afford them and suspiciously frequent donations from elderly Americans. In one bizarre case, a Republican political operative fell victim to a scam that used ActBlue to make unauthorized donations to left-leaning candidates in their name, raising questions about the platform’s vulnerability to abuse.
A tipster named Mike sent this to me.
Act Blue is letting these fake transactions through… pic.twitter.com/fEvF23XSvu— James O'Keefe (@JamesOKeefeIII) October 29, 2024
The scrutiny isn’t limited to Capitol Hill. State attorneys general, including Texas’ Ken Paxton, have launched their own investigations into ActBlue’s practices. Paxton even called on the Federal Election Commission to force the platform to tighten its contributor verification processes, arguing that its current setup is a recipe for fraud.
Adding fuel to the fire, the House Administration Committee’s chairman suggested that hostile foreign powers—think Russia, China, Iran, or Venezuela—may have exploited ActBlue to meddle in U.S. campaigns. If true, this would elevate ActBlue’s troubles from mere incompetence to a national security concern, casting a shadow over the Democrats’ reliance on the platform.
ActBlue’s internal chaos only deepens the suspicion. Since the 2024 election, the organization has been rocked by a wave of staff departures, including attorneys and longtime employees, suggesting a company scrambling to contain a crisis. The timing couldn’t be worse for Democrats, who leaned heavily on ActBlue’s fundraising prowess to prop up their candidates.
The Biden-Harris administration, which benefited immensely from ActBlue’s cash flow, had little incentive to dig into the platform’s problems during the 2024 campaign. Joe Biden, a longtime ActBlue beneficiary, was still in the White House, and Kamala Harris was riding a fundraising wave fueled by the platform. A Justice Department probe under their watch was unlikely to gain traction.
But the new congressional report lays bare ActBlue’s troubling conduct. It not only confirms that the platform rolled back anti-fraud measures in 2024 but also suggests ActBlue tried to sweep the changes under the rug. The report exposes a platform that, despite its central role in American politics, seems indifferent to stopping fraudulent or illegal contributions.
The subpoenas mark a significant escalation in the probe, putting ActBlue’s leadership under a microscope. Lawmakers are clearly fed up with the platform’s evasive tactics, especially after Twomey and her colleague dodged voluntary interviews. The Justice Department’s parallel investigation only adds to the pressure, hinting at potential criminal implications.
For Democrats, ActBlue’s woes are a political liability they can ill afford. The party has long positioned itself as a champion of transparency and integrity, yet its flagship fundraising tool now stands accused of enabling the very kind of dark money schemes it claims to oppose. The irony is hard to miss.
ActBlue’s troubles are poised to dominate Democrat Party focus, casting a pall over the Democratic Party’s financial operations. With foreign interference, lax oversight, and internal turmoil in the mix, the platform’s once-unassailable dominance is crumbling under the weight of its own missteps.
Stay tuned to the DC Daily Journal.
