ActBlue, a major Democratic fundraising platform, admitted in congressional testimony that it had not blocked donations made with foreign-purchased gift cards until September 2024.

This revelation has intensified investigations by Republican lawmakers into potential vulnerabilities in campaign finance and election integrity.

The disclosure emerged as part of an inquiry by the House Administration Committee, chaired by Representative Bryan Steil (R-WI).

U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil, a Janesville Republican, takes the stage during a press conference on crime and safety, hosted by Republican vice presidential nominee, Senator JD Vance, in Kenosha, Wisconsin on Tuesday, August 20, 2024.

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The investigation is examining whether foreign entities, including those in China, Russia, Iran, and Venezuela, may have exploited the platform to funnel illicit contributions into campaigns supporting Democratic candidates.

On Tuesday, Rep. Steil revealed that ActBlue had complied with a subpoena, providing documents that detailed a policy change in September 2024.

This change included implementing stricter protocols to block donations made using foreign-bought gift cards.

However, the platform’s prior acceptance of these payment methods has raised concerns about the potential for unlawful foreign interference in U.S. elections.

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“While this is a positive step forward, there is still more work to be done to ensure our campaign finance system is fully protected from fraud and unlawful foreign interference,” Steil told Just the News. “The documents provided to the Committee also confirm that ActBlue still accepted these concerning payment methods in July, a period when Democrats raised a record number of campaign money before implementing these safeguards.”

The issue has drawn criticism from House Republicans, including Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), who called out ActBlue’s practices on social media. “BREAKING: ActBlue was accepting foreign gift cards until September. This is ILLEGAL,” Johnson wrote on X. “The @HouseAdmin Committee will continue this important investigation into ActBlue next Congress. Our work here is just getting started.”

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Documents submitted to the committee revealed that, as of September 2024, ActBlue adopted new 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” by their fraud prevention partner, Sift.

Republican lawmakers have directed further scrutiny toward Sift, the fraud detection company working with ActBlue.

Concerns were raised following reports in October 2023 that ActBlue had been accepting donations without requiring card verification value (CVV) codes.

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This led Steil to question the platform’s compliance with federal campaign finance laws.

To address these issues, Steil introduced the SHIELD Act in September 2024.

The legislation mandates stricter donor verification processes, including requiring CVV codes and billing addresses for donations, and prohibits the use of prepaid cards for contributions.

The bill passed committee review swiftly, underscoring Republican efforts to close loopholes in campaign finance laws.

In a December 9 letter to Sift CEO Kris Nagel, Steil and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) expressed “urgent concerns regarding potential illicit election funding by foreign actors.”

The letter emphasized the risk of ActBlue’s past policies enabling fraudulent transactions, including those made with foreign-bought gift cards.

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Lawmakers warned that adversaries like China, Russia, Iran, and Venezuela might have exploited these vulnerabilities.

Additionally, investigations have uncovered suspicious donation patterns linked to ActBlue, including unusually frequent transactions made under the names of elderly or low-income Americans.

These findings have raised alarms about the potential misuse of donor identities, further amplifying concerns about compliance with the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, which prohibits foreign donations and contributions made in another person’s name.

The House Administration Committee’s investigation into ActBlue continues, with Republicans vowing to uncover the extent of any vulnerabilities in the platform and ensure compliance with federal election laws.