FIRST ON FOX: Three top committees within the House of Representatives are delivering an update to the Department of Justice (DOJ) on Wednesday about Republicans’ ongoing investigation into ActBlue.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and Committee on House Administration Chairman Bryan Steil, R-Wis., have been probing the Democratic fundraising platform for years.
“The Committees write today to draw your attention to our ongoing investigation into ActBlue, a political action committee and fundraising platform for the Democrat Party,” the letter said.
“The oversight has uncovered that ActBlue has weak fraud-prevention practices and overlooks bad actors, including foreign actors, who take advantage of the platform to make illicit political donations.”
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They said the platform’s “concerning activities” could even have a “direct effect on U.S. political campaigns and elections.”
Steil first raised concerns about ActBlue in late 2023 after accusations surfaced that it did not require a card verification value (CVV) number to accept donations via credit card, something lawmakers said made donations significantly less secure.
The letter said ActBlue delivered a “lackluster response” to queries on the matter. As recently as August 2024, however, the site had required CVV numbers for donations on pages observed by Fox News Digital, including former Vice President Kamala Harris’ White House campaign.
However, Republicans pressed ActBlue further, the letter pointed out.
Steil’s panel subpoenaed ActBlue for “documents relating to ActBlue’s donor verification policies, contributions originating outside of the United States, deplatformed entities, and reported unauthorized or fraudulent donations.”
“ActBlue’s responsive documents confirmed that the platform accepted unverified payments during a period of record campaign fundraising,” the letter said.
“Although ActBlue has since updated its policies to reject donations without safeguards such as a CVV requirement, the Committees’ oversight found that ActBlue implemented these changes only after ensuring that they would not negatively impact Democrat donations.”
Subsequent inquiries into whether ActBlue and related entities were meaningfully deterring foreign actors “have shed some light on the nature of their operations, but many questions remain.”
The committees released a report last month, claiming “ActBlue executives and staff are aware that both foreign and domestic fraudulent actors are exploiting the platform but do not take the threat seriously.”
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Fox News Digital reached out to ActBlue with a request for comment.
The platform previously dismissed Steil’s accusations as “inaccuracies and misrepresentations.”
“We rigorously protect donors’ security and maintain strict anti-fraud compliance practices. We have zero tolerance for fraud on our platform,” an ActBlue spokesperson said late last year.
A DOJ spokesperson confirmed receipt of the letter but declined to comment further.
