ActBlue, the giant Democratic fundraising platform, just launched a brand-new passport verification program for donors giving from foreign addresses, and Republicans on Capitol Hill say the move is about as subtle as a confession note taped to the front door.
Attorneys for ActBlue sent a letter to congressional investigators on Monday announcing the new protocol, which it described as adding “passport-based identity verification as a further enhancement to ActBlue’s multi-layered approach to fraud and foreign-contribution prevention.” The letter also noted the program would allow U.S. citizens abroad, who have been unable to donate through ActBlue since 2025, to “resume participating in the political process.” How convenient that they’re just now figuring this out.
The timing is hard to miss. The House Oversight Committee, led by Republican Rep. Jim Jordan, concluded in September that ActBlue significantly lowered its donation vetting standards and allowed foreign money to flow into Democratic campaigns and causes. Days after House Republicans accused the platform of potentially accepting foreign donations, ActBlue suddenly discovered it needed better tools. Pure coincidence, surely. You can follow ActBlue foreign contribution investigation to see how Republicans have been pressing the company on this for months.
Rep. Bryan Steil, chairman of the Committee on House Administration, did not mince words. This decision to implement a NEW passport verification program only confirms what we’ve been saying: ActBlue failed to verify the citizenship of individuals who made donations from abroad,” Steil told Fox News Digital. “This new policy should have been in place on day one. Right now, far too many questions remain unanswered, including what percentage of the billions of dollars that have flowed through ActBlue came from illegal foreign sources.”
A spokesman for Jordan piled on, saying the move “confirms that the platform’s fraud prevention measures were not as robust as” ActBlue CEO Regina Wallace-Jones “told Congress.” That’s a polite way of pointing out she may have left some things out during her testimony.
For years, Wallace-Jones and a parade of other ActBlue executives sat before Congress and pleaded the Fifth rather than answer questions about how the platform handled foreign donations. They wouldn’t say a word. Now the company’s own attorneys have basically answered the question for them by admitting, in writing, that contributions from foreign addresses are being processed and that new identity checks are needed to make sure the donors are actually American citizens.
Steil, Jordan, and Rep. James Comer say they’ll keep pushing for answers, including an accounting of how much of the billions raised through ActBlue may have come from illegal foreign sources. That’s a number Democrats who’ve been cashing those checks probably don’t want to see in print. Drop your thoughts in the comments or on social media, because this story is far from over.
