President Donald Trump has signed an executive memorandum to investigate a major Democratic fundraising group to crack down on foreign donations in American elections.
Trump reportedly has his sights on the Democrats’ dominant national fundraising platform, ActBlue, as the organization has been standing by for the White House to take possible action against it.
Trump’s memorandum directs Attorney General Pam Bondi to “investigate allegations regarding the unlawful use of online fundraising platforms to make ‘straw’ or ‘dummy’ contributions or foreign contributions to political candidates and committees, and to take appropriate action to enforce the law.”
Donors have given more than $400 million to Democratic candidates through ActBlue over the first three months of the year, according to the Associated Press.
The memorandum names ActBlue as an online fundraising platform that is used “to improperly influence American elections.”
An ActBlue spokesperson branded the move by the White House as a “brazen attack on democracy in America.”
“Today’s escalation by the White House is blatantly unlawful and needs to be seen for what it is: Donald Trump’s latest front in his campaign to stamp out all political, electoral and ideological opposition,” the group stated.
“This Administration continues to weaponize the instruments of federal power in an unprecedented assault on our democracy,” the statement read, calling the administration’s claims against it “baseless.”
ActBlue says it plans to challenge the executive order in court.
Earlier on Thursday, ActBlue said it “strictly abides” by all federal and state laws.
“We will always stand steadfast in defending the rights of all Americans to participate in our democracy and ActBlue will continue its mission undeterred and uninterrupted, providing a safe, secure fundraising platform for the millions of grassroots donors who rely on us,” the group said in a statement.
ActBlue has faced accusations and criticism from Republicans and prominent MAGA figures over how it verifies donations. Elon Musk last month blamed ActBlue without evidence for orchestrating and funding the Tesla protests that have ignited across the U.S. He named ActBlue “funders,” including liberal philanthropist George Soros and billionaire foe Reid Hoffman.
“Something stinks about ActBlue,” Musk also said in a post on X in March as other GOP lawmakers piled on.
Charlie Kirk, a key Trump ally who founded the conservative group Turning Point USA, called for the FBI to investigate ActBlue.
“I think the FBI’s going to do something on ActBlue soon,” Kirk said at a political event last month in Wisconsin.
California Republican Rep. Darrell Issa also asked the Treasury to investigate allegations that the group processed payments to “terror-linked organizations,” the Associated Press reported.
Separately, fellow Republican Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona sent a letter to the FBI last month claiming that ActBlue is being used to “to skirt the integrity of federal campaign finance laws” by allowing foreign nationals to contribute to campaigns, among other allegations of criminal wrongdoing, the agency reported.
ActBlue’s spokesperson Megan Hughes dismissed the claims. “ActBlue has always dealt with attacks and baseless claims from the Right that are designed to undermine the power of the small-dollar donors who rely on our platform,” Hughes said in a statement at the time.
Last year Rep. Bryan Steil of Wisconsin, a Republican who oversees the House Administration Committee, wrote to ActBlue in October demanding it hand over documents about how it verifies donors in light of ‘potential vulnerabilities that foreign actors may exploit to illegally participate in the U.S. political process.’”
ActBlue complied and Steil later acknowledged the company had “implemented updated policies to ‘automatically reject donations that use foreign prepaid/gift cards, domestic gift cards, are from high-risk/sanctioned countries and have the highest level of risk as determined,’” Politico noted.
