“Bad Actors”: Texas Demands FEC Action Over ‘Suspicious Donations’ To Democrats Through ActBlue

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton says he has evidence that the Democrat fundraising platform ActBlue is interfering in the 2024 US election by allowing straw donors to mask “bad actors” donating to candidates

Ken Paxton (Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)

“Our investigation into ActBlue has uncovered facts indicating that bad actors can illegally interfere in American elections by disguising political donations,” Paxton said in a statement on X.

“It is imperative that the FEC close off the avenues we have identified by which foreign contributions or contributions in excess of legal limits could be unlawfully funneled to political campaigns, bypassing campaign finance regulations and compromising our electoral system.”

In a Monday press release, Paxton says he sent a Petition for Rulemaking to the Federal Election Commission (FEC) detailing how “suspicious actors appear to be using ActBlue’s political fundraising platform to make a large number of straw political donations.“

“Our investigation into ActBlue has uncovered facts indicating that bad actors can illegally interfere in American elections by disguising political donations.”

BREAKING: Our investigation into ActBlue has uncovered facts indicating that bad actors can illegally interfere in American elections by disguising political donations.

It is imperative that the FEC close off the avenues we have identified by which foreign contributions or… pic.twitter.com/8E5vfaYxDL

— Attorney General Ken Paxton (@KenPaxtonTX) October 21, 2024

Last December, Paxton launched an investigation into ActBlue. In August, of this year he said that “straw donations” were systematically being made using false identities through untraceable payment methods.

“I am calling on the FEC to immediately begin rulemaking to secure our elections from any criminal actors exploiting these vulnerabilities,” said Paxton.

As Fox News reports further;

ActBlue targets small-dollar donations, the Hill first reported, and has been an integral part of the Democratic fundraising structure, collecting an estimated $1.5 billion from about 7 million donors.

While that influx of cash was split among nearly 19,000 campaigns, an excessive amount has gone to the highest profile races. In just the first few days of the Harris campaign, for example, donors gave her $200 million through the platform, per ActBlue’s account on the social platform X, the Hill reported.

In September, Rep. Bryan Steil (R-Wis.) introduced a bill that would require political committees to collect CVVs — the three- or four-digit “card verification value” on the back of a credit card — along with political donations.

Steil, who chairs the Committee on House Administration, sent a letter to top FEC officials urging them to “immediately initiate an emergency rulemaking to require political campaigns to verify the card verification value (‘CVV’) of donors who contribute online using a credit or debit card, and to prohibit political campaigns from accepting online contributions from a gift card or other prepaid credit cards.” The Aug. 5 request came in response to accusations that ActBlue is skirting campaign donation laws that allow for rampant fraud on the site.

Paxton’s office has said previously that “secure elections are the cornerstone of our republic.”

“Given the deliberate lack of security in their donation practices, it is unsurprising that ActBlue could be exploited for fraudulent activities,” wrote Rep. Claudia Tenney, (R-NY) in an August letter to the FEC demanding an investigation. “Recognizing that foreign actors use fake accounts to exploit donation systems lacking robust verification safeguards, most individual campaigns and political action committees (PACs) require CVV numbers to donate online. However, despite its widespread use among its online counterparts, ActBlue deliberately chooses not to require CVV numbers for donations, possibly facilitating fraudulent activities and foreign interference in our electoral system.”

Foreign donations benefitting U.S. political campaigns are a crime and must cease. These are the type actions that DOJ must immediately take action against. Let’s see what happens.

Thank you @KenPaxtonTX @realDonaldTrump @RobertKennedyJr @JDVance @elonmusk @TulsiGabbard https://t.co/nMG3LYvgEi

— General Mike Flynn (@GenFlynn) October 21, 2024