ActBlue's woes not over as top Republican predicts potential DOJ charges over foreign cash controversy
A top House Republican leading the investigation into ActBlue is warning that Democrats' main fundraising platform could potentially face criminal charges.
Committee on House Administration Chairman Bryan Steil, R-Wis., told Fox News Digital that the congressional investigation into ActBlue would continue and that he suspected the Department of Justice (DOJ) would act as well if federal prosecutors believed a crime could be proven in court.
"We know that ActBlue did not have the fraud prevention standards in place that were necessary to prevent foreign funds from finding their way, through the ActBlue platform, into Democratic campaigns and Democratic causes. I'm of the belief that we ultimately need to continue this investigation," Steil told Fox News Digital.
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"And then, separate of that, the United States Department of Justice will make a decision as to whether or not they believe that there was a crime committed. And if they can prove that in court, my belief would be that the Department of Justice would move forward."
Steil's committee, along with the House committees on oversight and the judiciary, have for years probed allegations that ActBlue's lax verification standards have allowed foreign cash to seep into American elections. ActBlue has denied any wrongdoing and dismissed the probe as a partisan attack.
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ActBlue has, however, sought to shore up its donor verification standards as the probe has gone on, including most recently rolling out a new passport verification system.
"Our investigation is about getting the facts to the American people, and, in large part, putting ourselves in a position to update our campaign finance laws for the digital era," Steil said. "So many of our campaign finance laws were written for a previous time. It is absolutely essential that we're updating our laws to actually address the fact that we are in a campaign finance digital era."
President Donald Trump directed now-former Attorney General Pam Bondi to open an investigation into ActBlue in April 2025, but the current status of that probe is unknown. Fox News Digital reached out to the DOJ with Steil's comments, asking for an update on the investigation.
The platform has long been used by many Democrats to raise money for their political campaigns, including Democratic leaders in the House and Senate, though it said it paused donations from Americans abroad in 2025.
ActBlue has consistently denied wrongdoing in responses to Fox News Digital and communications to House investigators. Ten top figures within the company, including executives and founders, have pleaded the Fifth Amendment to avoid answering questions in both public and private sit-downs with GOP-led committees.
But a new report released earlier this month, first reported by Fox News Digital, appeared to show employees green-lighting donations despite some questions about where they came from.
Chief among the GOP's concerns was ActBlue's passport number verification. According to the report, the field only required the correct number of characters for a U.S. passport number rather than a valid code for a donation to be accepted.
A letter sent to House investigators by ActBlue's lawyers earlier this month said its new program "adds passport-based identity verification as a further enhancement to ActBlue’s multi-layered approach to fraud and foreign-contribution prevention."
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"The new program uses the best available technology to allow eligible donors located abroad to verify their identity using a valid U.S. passport. It reflects substantial engineering investments by ActBlue to ensure that, as it resumes processing contributions from foreign addresses, its compliance systems can withstand scrutiny," the letter said.
Steil said at the time that the update "only confirms what we've been saying: ActBlue failed to verify the citizenship of individuals who made donations from abroad."
Fox News Digital reached out to ActBlue for comment on Steil's most recent remarks.