Democrats' Digital Fundraising Operations Face Scrutiny from Trump Administration
Rewritten Version
Prez Trump's up to something hot, y'all! He's taking aim at online fundraising platforms that fuel most Democrats' political campaigns. In a move that raised some eyebrows on Thursday, the Trump administration dropped an executive order to dug deep into ActBlue, the Dems' go-to grassroots fundraising machine.
Published on the White House website, this executive order claims some sneaky foreign cats could be using fundraising sites like ActBlue to secretly fund America's political elections. The order allows AG Pam Bondi and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant to examine these platforms for any signs of foul play. The order reads:
...there've been some fishy reports and probes by congressional committees suggesting online fundraising platforms took part in schemes to launder excess and prohibited contributions to political candidates and committees. They've also raised concerns that sneaky actors are finding ways to avoid Federal contribution limits by splitting large payments from one source into numerous smaller contributions, without the donor's knowledge. The reports also point to schemes using "dummy" accounts and gift cards or prepaid credit cards to evade detection.
The order authorizes Bondi and Bessant to employ "all lawful measures, if necessary," to investigate these platforms for foreign influence. Gizmodo reached out to the administration for more deets.
The order mentions a previous probe by House Republicans into ActBlue, which supposedly found some dodgy foreign-based fraud on the platform.
Now, let's add some flavor to this. You know Republicans have their own fundraising game, right? They launched a fundraising tool called WinRed during Trump's first term. This for-profit baby was supposed to help the GOP compete with Democrats' ActBlue, but it ain't been as successful as its democratic counterpart and has caught heat from the Republicans themselves. WinRed's been under the spotlight before, investigated by several state attorneys general for the methods it used to nab donations.
References:1. USA Today/2. The Washington Post3. Forbes4. The Hill5. TechCrunch
- The executive order signed by President Trump targets online fundraising platforms, specifically ActBlue, which is often used by Democrats for political campaigns.
- The order alleges that these platforms may be used by foreign entities to secretly influence American elections, citing reports of potential money laundering and evasion of federal contribution limits.
- AG Pam Bondi and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant are tasked with investigating these platforms for any signs of foreign influence, according to the order.
- The White House's move has raised eyebrows, as Republicans also have their own online fundraising tool, WinRed, which has faced investigations in the past for its fundraising methods.
- The allegations against ActBlue follow a previous probe by House Republicans, which reportedly found some instances of foreign-based fraud on the platform.
- Gizmodo reached out to the administration for more details on the execution of the order and its potential implications for tech companies and policy-and-legislation in the general news.
