There is something fishy about the Democrats’ fundraising platform “ActBlue,” which has quickly raised millions for Vice President Kamala Harris. Republicans are now investigating some of the whistleblowers’ claims.
Accordingly FoxNewsRepublican Bryan Steil of Wisconsin, chairman of the Committee on House Administration, will investigate ActBlue on allegations that it is evading campaign donations laws, which could pave the way for unchecked fraud on the site:
In a letter sent to top officials at the Federal Election Commission (FEC) on Monday, Steil urged them to “immediately initiate an emergency rule requiring political campaigns to verify the card verification value (CVV) of donors who donate online using a credit or debit card and prohibiting political campaigns from accepting online donations via gift cards or other prepaid credit cards.”
Steil will investigate whether the claims about the site’s lousy verification standards hold water. Several whistleblowers have accused ActBlue of intentionally omitting the CVV requirement that most sites have these days so that it isn’t nearly as arduous to donate. These whistleblowers have also reported that many of these donations came from retirees on fixed incomes, with hundreds of $2.50 donations coming from one person.
“After ActBlue, one of the largest fundraising platforms in the country, reported numerous allegations of fraudulent donations to the FEC, this emergency ruling is necessary to reassure the American people that ActBlue is taking the necessary steps to protect its donors,” Steil said in his letter.
According to Fox News, the letter also said that the site allows other payment methods, which could pose a real problem for fraudulent donations:
Steil’s letter also argues that the site’s acceptance of prepaid credit cards and gift cards promotes the “very real possibility that sham donors will make campaign contributions using funds provided by another person or an illegitimate donor, including a foreign national. These issues represent a serious gap in the transparency and integrity of the campaign donation process, and an emergency order is needed to address these issues.”
The committee said whistleblowers also alleged that prepaid gift cards and credit cards were being used to launder campaign contributions, which would otherwise violate campaign finance laws.
As RedState reported on Saturday, Wyoming and Virginia have also launched investigations into ActBlue’s strange donations. Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares said some of the donations were received “in amounts that, at first glance, appear implausible and suspicious.”
Meanwhile, Wyoming Secretary of State Chuck Gray is investigating reports that ActBlue is committing identity theft. This is not a case where “a person who donates to a PAC who has never donated to that PAC is committing a crime under Wyoming state law.”
Florida Senator Marco Rubio said ActBlue had “become a money laundering operation.” He pointed out that donations do not require a CVV code and called it “a deliberate strategy on their part” to fraudulently collect donations.
ActBlue accused the Republican Party of “partisan politics” and denied any wrongdoing.
“This investigation is nothing more than a partisan attack and fearmongering to undermine the power of small Democratic and progressive donors,” ActBlue said in a statement. “We welcome the opportunity to respond to these frivolous claims.”
