Committee on House Administration Chairman Bryan Steil (R-Wis.) sent a letter to the Federal Election Commission on Monday requesting it adopt new rules to curb potential donation fraud, the New York Post reported.
The request comes amid allegations that ActBlue Charities Inc., a Democratic fundraising platform, has accepted at least hundreds of thousands of dollars in fraudulent donations, prompting some to question whether the platform is involved in a money-laundering scheme, Blaze News previously reported.
‘Illegal and malicious conduct have no place in our elections.’
Independent journalists uncovered a long list of questionable and suspicious donations, including one individual who donated more than 20,000 times since 2019, according to FEC records. James O’Keefe interviewed some individuals listed as having donated “thousands of times per year.”
O’Keefe shared the findings in a post on X, stating, “Cindy Nowe of Annapolis, Maryland, allegedly contributed over 1,000 times to ActBlue in 2022, totaling $18,849.77. That means Cindy would have had to donate three times a day, every day, for the whole year. When asked if she donated $18,850 to ActBlue, Nowe tells [O’Keefe Media Group], ‘No, I don’t think so.'”
ActBlue is gathering campaign donations on behalf of Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris. According to recent reports, she raised more than $200 million in one week.
Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares was the first AG to announce that his office plans to look into the allegations against ActBlue. Attorneys general in Missouri and Wyoming have also opened inquiries in light of the accusations.
Steil wrote to the FEC, “Following widespread allegations of fraudulent donations being reported to the FEC by ActBlue, one of the largest fundraising platforms in the country, this emergency rule-making is necessary to reassure the American people that ActBlue is taking the necessary steps to protect its donors.”
He called for the FEC to enact a new rule that would require fundraising platforms to verify the Card Verification Value of credit cards and address information. Additionally, Steil is pushing for the FEC to put an end to gift-card donations, which he said could be used to facilitate foreign straw donations.
“Illegal and malicious conduct have no place in our elections. Ensuring all parties are complying with federal election law as we approach a presidential election is of utmost importance,” Steil continued. “Allowing political committees to accept donations from gift cards or other prepaid credit cards promote the appearance and the very real possibility that straw donors are making campaign donations with funds provided by another person or an unlawful donor including a foreign national.”
He noted that the issues pose “a serious loophole to the transparency and integrity of the campaign donation process.”
ActBlue recently told Newsweek, “This investigation is nothing more than a partisan political attack and scare tactic to undermine the power of Democratic and progressive small-dollar donors. We welcome the opportunity to respond to these frivolous claims.”
The fundraising platform did not respond to a request for comment from the Post.
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