House GOP investigators are warning that they are not done with ActBlue after a bombshell report fueled questions over whether the Democrat fundraising giant is accepting foreign cash and lying to Congress about it.
asserted
giant → warn → it
“Whether it’s allowing fraudsters to steal taxpayer dollars or accepting illegal foreign donations through ActBlue, Democrats have proven themselves to be the party of fraud.
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themselves → allow → fraud
We expect more documents and testimony in the weeks ahead,” House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., told Fox News Digital.
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Comer → expect → Digital
ActBlue is a massive platform for campaigns to raise money that’s used by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-NY, Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed and the Democratic leaders of the House and Senate, among others.
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that → raise → others
Republican lawmakers have long accused the company of having lax verification standards for donors, something ActBlue has said it actively improved since the start of the GOP’s probe.
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it → accuse → probe
But new findings, first reported by Fox News Digital, appear to show employees green-lighting donations despite some questions about where they came from.
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they → report → where
But the company maintains it did nothing wrong and signaled in comments to Fox News Digital that it has no plans to return any donations raised in the report.
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it → maintain → report
Committee on House Administration Chairman Bryan Steil, R-Wis., told Fox News Digital on Friday, “ActBlue’s own admissions raise serious questions about its fraud prevention practices, including a so-called passport verification process that did not actually verify or check entries against any government database.
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that → tell → database
All options are on the table to ensure we get to the bottom of what is going on at ActBlue.”
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what → ensure → ActBlue
And a spokesperson for Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and the House Judiciary Committee confirmed to Fox News Digital that the panel “will continue aggressive oversight of ActBlue, including additional depositions.”
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panel → confirm → depositions
All three committees have been responsible for investigating the left-wing fundraising giant.
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committees → investigate → giant
It’s not clear how much those depositions will yield, however.
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depositions → ’ → much
The Judiciary Committee revealed through a series of transcripts on Thursday that all 10 ActBlue employees and board members who appeared for closed-door depositions invoked the Fifth Amendment to avoid answering questions.
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who → reveal → questions
That includes co-founder Matt DeBergalis, whose invocation was first reported by Fox News Digital.
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invocation → include → Digital
The GOP report cited a letter by Wallace-Jones to Steil, which maintained that donations on the platform made by people with addresses outside the US required a passport number for verification.
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donations → cite → verification
But the Republicans’ report alleged that the verification “only ensures that the entered passport number contains a certain number of characters, not that it is a valid US passport number,” rendering it an essentially meaningless step.
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it → allege → characters
The report also included excerpts purporting to show ActBlue supervisors green-lighting donations despite “red flags,” including a memo lauding a donation as a “great accept,” but noting, “Donor sometimes has an IP in Hong Kong, but none of their other signals raise any eyebrows.”
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none → include → eyebrows
Another communication appears to show an ActBlue supervisor maintaining that a denied contribution “should have been accepted.”
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contribution → appear → ?
The rest of the memo stated, “It is a foreign contribution, but the name/email match, the IP/billing match, a full address with the correct country code, and there were previously accepted and successful contributions.”
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It → state → code
“The donor uses an Arkansas state code, which isn’t great, but [the] system can be wonky with requiring state codes for foreign donors,” the rest of the message stated.
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rest → use → message
An ActBlue supervisor also allegedly said a contribution “set off a lot of” alarms, but argued the donor should be given the “benefit of the doubt.”
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donor → say → doubt
Yet another appeared to show an ActBlue employee acknowledging that a donor using a Missouri billing address had “all signs point to this person being from Canada,” but that X (then Twitter) was used to confirm their identity.
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X → appear → identity
But despite the GOP’s accusations, the report’s evidence also appears to show ActBlue employees standing by the platform.
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employees → appear → platform
An email from ActBlue employees shows they believe the company to be “the target of bad-faith political attacks at the hands of ill-intentioned operators.”
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company → show → operators
ActBlue also previously told the committee “there is no evidence that foreign donations through online or small-dollar contributions are a problem in US elections.”
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donations → tell → elections
The communications excerpts were included in the report and not independently verified by Fox News Digital.
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excerpts → include → Digital
It’s prompted a firestorm on the right, with House Republicans’ campaign arm demanding that Democrats return donations made through ActBlue.
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Democrats → prompt → ActBlue
“House Democrats cannot claim ignorance while continuing to rely on a fundraising platform facing serious allegations.
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Democrats → claim → allegations
The [National Republican Congressional Committee] officially calls on every House Democrat to cut ties with ActBlue and return any illegal contributions funneled to their campaigns through the platform,” spokesman Mike Marinella said.
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Marinella → call → platform
But when asked if ActBlue would return any donations, the company pointed Fox News Digital back to its statement on the House GOP report.
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company → ask → report
After we released findings of a third-party forensic analysis that completely undermined a central claim that they have made against ActBlue, Republicans are refusing to move on,” ActBlue said.
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ActBlue → release → ActBlue
“Instead, they are orchestrating another political stunt before rushing out of town weeks early to go campaign.
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they → orchestrate → town
This coordinated campaign against ActBlue isn’t about the facts, or legislating, it’s about Republicans’ efforts to silence organizations they believe threaten their agenda.”
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they → ’ → agenda
The Aporia
