Trump goes after websites that raise money for his enemies
Donald Trump will sign an executive order that will target online election fundraising platforms that may allegedly process foreign campaign donations – an action specifically aimed at curtailing the activities of ActBlue, the primary online fundraising platform for the Democratic Party.
Politico first reported that the executive order was imminent, was aimed at launching an investigation into ActBlue, and would involve Attorney General Pam Bondi and the Justice Department. NBC confirmed the report shortly after, saying that the order was related to “how the platform verifies and reports its donors and users.”
The move comes after months of House Republicans demanding evidence from ActBlue that demonstrated it was able to prevent donations from foreign actors, an accusation ActBlue has vehemently and repeatedly denied. (According to the Federal Election Commission, federal law prohibits foreign nationals and governments from financially contributing to anything connected to a U.S. election, including political parties.) But the MAGA scrutiny of ActBlue went viral in March after Elon Musk accused ActBlue-linked groups of secretly funding the protests taking place at Tesla dealerships across the country. The House Judiciary Committee soon upped the heat and released a report earlier this month accusing the platform of allowing fraud to run rampant on the site.
According to a running tally on its website, ActBlue has raised over $16.8 billion for Democratic candidates and causes since its launch in 2004, and has reportedly raised over $400 million in the past three months since Trump was sworn into office. In a letter sent to Democrats on Wednesday anticipating the executive order, ActBlue CEO and President Regina Wallace-Jones called the reports a “strategy of distraction and exhaustion.”
The organization does, however, have its own internal crisis to handle: in March, the New York Times reported that at least seven senior officials had resigned since the 20204 election concluded, for reasons not immediately made clear to the staff.