Dem fundraising giant ActBlue rocked by allegations it misled Congress about foreign donations
ActBlue, a central piece of the Democratic Party's fundraising infrastructure, potentially misled Congress when it said it was adequately vetting incoming donations, according to a new report released this week.
The head of ActBlue, a major nonprofit fundraising platform that helps steer donations to left-wing candidates and causes, wrote in 2023 to Congress — in response to concerns about the platform's ability to vet foreign donors — that it was taking all the necessary steps to ensure it was following the rules to ensure money from foreign sources were not making it through, according to a Thursday report from The New York Times.
However, behind the scenes, ActBlue's attorneys at Covington & Burling were expressing grave concerns that ActBlue CEO Regina Wallace-Jones' claims in her letter to Congress were misleading and could open up the platform to significant legal risk, the report said.
ActBlue was already facing scrutiny from Trump, with him calling on the Justice Department last year to investigate the group over concerns the platform was allowing straw and foreign donations, which are barred by federal election laws. The fundraising platform has also been targeted by several congressional probes led by Republican House Committees.
The concern from ActBlue's legal counsel was found by the Times after reviewing memos between ActBlue and its legal counsel, resignation letters, and other communications. The Times also held interviews with ActBlue employees on the basis of anonymity.
The memos reportedly communicated that claims to Congress by Wallace-Jones, indicating that ActBlue had a multi-layered vetting framework and processed contributions with foreign mailing addresses only if the donor supplied a U.S. passport number, were not fully accurate. Wallace-Jones also reportedly wrote in her letter that ActBlue's framework would contact donors to request their U.S. passport information in order to process donations and would return any money when they could not reach the donor. However, this was also reportedly not happening on a consistent basis, according to The Times' reporting.
"It can be alleged that ActBlue accepted and/or facilitated the acceptance of foreign-national contributions into American elections," one memo reportedly stated. "In addition, because ActBlue’s staff was aware that its system was not as robust as necessary, it could be alleged that these violations were ‘knowing and willful,’ a standard that both increases the penalties the F.E.C. might seek and gives the Justice Department jurisdiction for a potential criminal investigation."
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"An aggressive prosecutor may view the November 2023 letter not just as a false statement but as an effort to conceal the foreign contributions," ActBlue's legal counsel wrote, The Times reported.
The concerns about Wallace-Jones' statements to Congress and what to do subsequently resulted in behind-the-scenes chaos at the political fundraising nonprofit, including a slew of departures at ActBlue that were reported publicly by The Times. Additionally, the relationship between ActBlue and its legal firm, Covington & Burling, which is known for representing some of the most high-profile political clients in the United States, was ultimately severed amid disagreements over whether Wallace-Jones' claims in 2023 were the fault of the legal counsel,or ActBlue, according to the Times' reporting on Thursday.
"We have complete confidence in the legal advice our lawyers provided to ActBlue," a Covington spokesperson told Fox News Digital.
ActBlue did not respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment in time for publication.
In May, ActBlue put out a press release informing people about "what's really happening and what you need to know," pertaining to the investigation into ActBlue's vetting mechanisms. The press release called it a "myth" that the platform allows foreign nationals to illegally contribute donations.
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"While ActBlue has always had strong measures in place that have successfully prevented illegal foreign donations, beginning in 2025 we have gone even further," the press release states. "We now require that Americans living abroad be physically present in the United States to make a contribution on our platform, despite campaign finance laws allowing citizens to contribute to campaigns while living abroad."
Trump called on the DOJ early in his term to return a report within 180 days to him about the status of its findings into ActBlue. However, according to The Times, that report has never been made public. The outlet added that three investigations by GOP-led House committees remain ongoing.