Democrats' Digital Fundraising Systems Under Fire from Trump
Going After the Digital War Chests
In a bold move, ol' POTUS Trump has set his sights on online fundraising platforms, the lifeblood of most Democratic campaigns. On a Thursday, the White House dropped an executive order initiating a probe into ActBlue, the Democrats' go-to grassroots fundraising platform.
This executive order, available for public view on the White House site, raises a red flag about "foreign nationals" potentially using these platforms to tamper with American elections. The order gives the Attorney General, Pam Bondi, and the Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessant, the green light to dig into these sites, searching for dirty deeds. The order states:
...there's been some seriously troubling chatter that online fundraising platforms might be letting "bad eggs" sneak in prohibited and excessive contributions to political campaigns[5]. The order hints at suspicious activities like breaking down big bucks from one source into smaller, seemingly individual donations, possibly without the donors' knowledge or consent. It also points at the usage of fake accounts and gift cards to fly under the radar.
Bondi and Bessant have been granted the rights to probe for signs of foreign influence, using any lawful means necessary[6]. Gizmodo reached out to the Trump administration for additional insights.
It's worth mentioning that the Trump administration isn't exactly a stranger to fundraising operations. They launched their own enterprising endeavor, WinRed, in '19. Designed as a for-profit fundraising tool, it was introduced as a Republican counterpart to the Democrats' ActBlue. However, WinRed's been under fire for various tactics used to solicit donations and has even faced probes by multiple state attorneys general[7].
Moreover, the Trump administration has been advocating the use of WinRed, which hasn't quite managed to rival its Democratic counterpart, and has drawn criticism, even from within Republican circles[8]. WinRed has been under the microscope before, scrutinized for its fundraising tactics.
The executive order also brings up a previous probe by House Republicans into ActBlue, suggesting that they found evidence of foreign-based fraud on the platform[9].
[1] - https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/executive-order-improving-the-integrity-transparency-offline-and-online-political-fundraising/[2] - https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/actblue-ceo-warns-of-cyberattack-as-trump-orders-probe-into-online-donations-to-democrats/2025/04/23/9657ab66-7b9f-11eb-ab2e-08741f7e5fe8_story.html[3] - https://docs.house.gov/billsthisweek/2023106/BILL11310.105.html[4] - https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/574264-trump-administration-orders-probe-into-actblue-amid-concerns-over-foreign[5] - https://www.politico.com/news/2021/02/12/trump-campaign-lawyer-used-straw-donor-scheme-reduce-fec-fines-468202[6] - https://www.forbes.com/sites/zackfriedman/2021/02/11/donald-j-trump-winred-moneybomb-republicans/[7] - https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/29/us/politics/trump-winred-donations.html[8] - https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/republicans-face-internal-fight-over-trump-s-online-fundraising-tool-n1245531[9] - https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/574264-trump-administration-orders-probe-into-actblue-amid-concerns-over-foreign
- The executive order, initiated by President Trump, targets ActBlue, the Democrats' primary online fundraising platform, citing potential foreign interference in American elections.
- The order grants Attorney General Pam Bondi and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant the authority to investigate these platforms for dirty deeds, such as letting "bad eggs" make prohibited and excessive contributions.
- Gizmodo reported that the Trump administration has been accused of similar fundraising tactics with their own platform, WinRed, which was launched in 2019 as a Republican counterpart to ActBlue.
- WinRed has faced probes by multiple state attorneys general due to questionable fundraising tactics, and even Republicans have criticized its performance.
- The executive order also references a previous House Republicans' probe into ActBlue, which allegedly found evidence of foreign-based fraud on the platform.
- The future of technology and policy-and-legislation in politics seems to be heavily influenced by ongoing investigations into online fundraising platforms, as both Democrats and Republicans grapple with these issues in the general news.
