ActBlue CEO Regina Wallace-Jones told Congress her platform blocked every foreign donation.
Her own lawyers warned she may have committed a federal crime by sending that letter.
Now Congress has introduced two bills aimed directly at her platform – and what they could force her to answer for next is something she's been running from for two years.
How ActBlue Misled Congress About Foreign Donations and Then Gutted Its Legal Team
This scandal didn't start Monday.
Steil and his colleagues on the House Administration, Judiciary, and Oversight Committees have been digging into ActBlue since late 2023.
What they found was damning.
ActBlue changed its fraud prevention rules – making them more lenient – twice during the 2024 election cycle, even as internal memos flagged donations flooding in from Brazil, Colombia, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, India, and the Philippines.
One internal memo even warned staff to watch for donations to Democrat organizations "mostly from Brazilian donors (unlikely to give to this organization)."
The platform's own outside law firm, Covington & Burling, warned that CEO Regina Wallace-Jones's 2023 letter to Congress claiming the platform had "multilayered" safeguards was potentially criminal.
"An aggressive prosecutor may view the November 2023 letter not just as a false statement but as an effort to conceal the foreign contributions," Covington warned.
After Republicans swept the 2024 election and the investigation intensified, ActBlue's response was unmistakable.
The platform's entire legal and compliance operation collapsed in the months that followed – lawyers gone, fired, or quietly placed on leave.
The House committees put it plainly in their April report: every member of that team left "because of its 'knowing and willful' acceptance of illegal foreign contributions, and the subsequent cover-up."
Then five current and former ActBlue employees were called to testify.
They pleaded the Fifth Amendment 146 times – refusing to answer a single substantive question.
Steil Drops Two Bills to Close the Loopholes
Monday's legislation is the direct result of three years of investigation.
The Campaign Finance Transparency Act would ban political donations made with gift cards – a method Republicans have long argued makes it nearly impossible to trace a donor's true identity.
It would require the name on a credit or debit card to match the donor's name, a basic verification step ActBlue wasn't performing.
For donors without a U.S. mailing address, the bill mandates proof of citizenship or permanent resident status.
"My investigation into ActBlue has demonstrated that the current campaign finance laws weren't drafted for the modern era we live in," Steil told Fox News Digital.
"The major gaps we've uncovered are being exploited by fraudsters and foreign nationals to make illegal political donations. For example, right now an individual could make a fraudulent donation online in someone else's name and avoid getting caught."
The second bill – the Preventing Foreign Influence in American Elections Act – goes further.
It closes a loophole Democrats exploited to funnel foreign cash into operations that technically weren't direct campaign contributions.
Foreign nationals would be barred from funding ballot harvesting operations, voter registration drives, and polling operations – all tools Democrats have weaponized in recent cycles.
The law would also block foreign money from flowing into the administration of state and local elections.
Steil's team confirmed they will fast-track both bills through the House Administration Committee.
The $38 Million Foreign Interference Problem Democrats Refuse to Fix
Democrats spent four years screaming about Russian interference based on a few thousand dollars in Facebook ads.
One percent of ActBlue's 2024 haul – the share its own board admitted showed signs of foreign origin – is $38 million.
That's a coordinated effort to purchase American elections using money from countries like Saudi Arabia and China, laundered through a platform that deliberately weakened its own fraud detection and then lied to Congress about it.
ActBlue isn't just a payment processor.
It's the financial backbone of the entire Democrat Party – $19 billion funneled to Democrat campaigns and causes since 2004, including $46.7 million directly to Kamala Harris's 2024 campaign.
Foreign governments didn't need to hack voting machines.
They just needed to find a Democrat organization willing to take their money and look the other way.
Steil's bills are a start.
But the real question is whether Kash Patel's FBI – which was already asked to open a criminal investigation by Rep. Andy Biggs in March 2025 – is prepared to follow every dollar back to its source.
Sources:
- Robert Schmad, "ActBlue Scrutiny Fuels New GOP Bills to Tighten Election Donation Rules," Fox News, May 11, 2026.
- "New Report Reveals Illicit Foreign Donations and Mass Resignations at ActBlue," House Judiciary Committee Republicans, April 2026.
- "ActBlue Adopted 'More Lenient' Donation Standards, Received Foreign Money During 2024 Election Cycle," Just the News, April 2, 2025.
- "Chairman Steil Demands Information from ActBlue on Potential Foreign Influence in Campaign Funding," House Administration Committee, October 2024.
- "Steil Introduces Legislation to Strengthen Campaign Finance Laws," Rep. Bryan Steil Press Release, September 9, 2024.
- "ActBlue's Lawyers Said It May Have Misled Congress on Foreign Donations," Washington Examiner, April 2, 2026.
- "Congressman Biggs Demands FBI Investigation into ActBlue," Rep. Andy Biggs Press Release, March 13, 2025.
