First, Congress is saying ActBlue appears to have knowingly accepted illegal foreign contributions. Second, the legal and compliance team seems to have blown to pieces after the 2024 election, which suggests the people closest to the scandal understood just how serious it was and bailed. Third, there appears to have been a cover-up, including alleged lies to Congress and possibly withheld subpoenaed material. The fraud questions are still part of an ongoing investigation, but those three points spell big trouble for ActBlue.
And if all of this sounds familiar, it should. There’s been a lot of side-eye around ActBlue for a while now, and we did a recent piece calling out the way The New York Times tried to provide their usual “cover.” The press wanted readers to think ActBlue lying to Congress was some sort of legal misunderstanding.
When reality and evidence show the more likely situation is that top lawyers were sounding alarm bells, while high-ranking staffers were heading for the exits, everyone’s invoking the Fifth Amendment, and all of a sudden, this giant fundraiser is in the crosshairs.