ActBlue, a major fundraising platform for Democrats, may have misled congressional Republicans on how it vets donations from foreign citizens, The New York Times reported.
The revelation by a law firm that works for ActBlue led to numerous resignations at the organization, the Times reported.
Regina Wallace-Jones, the chief executive of ActBlue, told Congress the organization carried out "multilayered" screenings of contributions that helped "root out" the donations that came from overseas donors, the Times reported. But Covington & Burling, the group's law firm, found some of those steps were not always followed, the Times reported.
"This presents a substantial risk for ActBlue," the law firm stated in a memo obtained by the Times.
Democrats are nervous that upheaval at the organization, which has processed $19 billion in contributions since 2004, will hurt the party's fundraising abilities ahead of the 2026 midterms, the Times reported.
An investigation by the Justice Department into ActBlue is ongoing.
Following the revelations, ActBlue parted ways with Covington, arguing the firm insufficiently reviewed the letter Wallace-Jones wrote to Congress. The organization also said Covington was often tardy and unprepared and that it offered "counsel that bordered on malpractice."
"The statements in my 2023 letter to the House Administration Committee were accurate in the context in which they were written," Wallace-Jones told the Times.
A Covington spokesman, David Schaefer, told the Times, "We have complete confidence in the legal advice our lawyers provided to ActBlue."
Wallace-Jones told Congress that ActBlue contacts donors to request passport information in order to process donations and refunds those it cannot reach. However, Covington said that donors who paid through apps like Apple Pay were not asked for passport information, according to the Times.
Covington told ActBlue there was "a substantial risk that some of the funds received were impermissible contributions from foreign nationals."
The law firm later warned of the legal risks of making statements to Congress that could be false or misleading in another memo obtained by the Times.
While ActBlue said its statement to Congress was accurate, the organization told the Times it implemented stricter vetting to prevent foreign donations after the law firm's memos.
Three Republican-led House committees are investigating the organization, and several former ActBlue officials have been called to testify behind closed doors, the Times reported.
The officials all invoked their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination during testimony, sources told the Times.
Sam Barron ✉
Sam Barron has almost two decades of experience covering a wide range of topics including politics, crime and business.
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