Republicans subpoena Democratic fundraising platform ActBlue

Committee on House Administration Chair Bryan Steil (R-Wis.) on Wednesday issued a subpoena to ActBlue, a popular Democratic fundraising platform that has collected record donations for the Harris campaign.

The subpoena concerns the platform's potential use to influence U.S. elections through illicit money laundering, according to a press release.

In the letter, Steil has asked the platform to comply by Nov. 6.

"We cannot allow foreign actors to influence our elections through campaign financing. The Committee’s investigation uncovered that foreign actors might be taking advantage of ActBlue’s inadequate security protocols," Steil said in the release.

"To ensure that foreign money is not being laundered through ActBlue, we are requesting a series of documents and communications related to their donor security and verification policies. Preventing foreign interference in U.S. elections has been my top priority as Chairman and this next step in our investigation is crucial to achieving that goal," he added.

This comes as Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton last week accused the platform of failing to keep off "straw donors," or those who use another person's money to donate in their own name.

According to the subpoena, which follows an investigation by the committee into the platform's donor verification policies, Steil and ActBlue sent a series of letters dating back to October 2023 regarding the platform's verification practices and the committee's attempts to regulate them.

"As the Committee continues to develop legislation to close loopholes in our campaign finance system and prevent foreign actors from influencing U.S. federal elections, we are issuing this subpoena to better inform our efforts to safeguard our nation’s elections," Steil wrote in the subpoena.

In September, Steil introduced legislation aimed at having more stringent verification procedures after ActBlue had told Steil in a letter that it was accepting political contributions without a credit card verification value (CVV). The legislation passed by a voice vote, although in August, ActBlue had already agreed to begin collecting CVVs.

Steil also sent letters in September to attorneys general in several states with updates on the committee's ActBlue investigation and data from almost a year.

The latest letter was sent by Steil on Monday, in which he requested documents and information related to ActBlue's verification policies and any vulnerabilities.

ActBlue targets small-dollar donations and has collected an estimated $1.5 billion from about 7 million donors for Democrats.

That amount has been split among nearly 19,000 campaigns, though a disproportionate amount has gone to the highest profile races, such as Vice President Harris's campaign. In just the first few days of her campaign, donors gave her $200 million through the platform, per ActBlue's account on the social platform X.

The Hill has contacted ActBlue for comment.