President Donald Trump issued a memorandum on Thursday ordering the Department of Justice to investigate online political fundraising platforms with the intent of targeting Democratic Party fundraising platform ActBlue.
The memorandum specifically mentions ActBlue while using broader language in ordering an investigation into “online fundraising platforms.”
This is the latest in a series of targeted attacks by Trump against his perceived enemies, including law firms, nonprofits and former government officials. This, however, is the first time that he has taken aim at a part of the machinery of the Democratic Party. It is the clearest effort yet by Trump to use the power of the presidency to destabilize and hobble his political opposition. This follows his actions to eliminate or delegitimize all civil society entities that oppose, or could, oppose him.
Trump ordered the DOJ to open an investigation into whether online political fundraising platforms ― that is, ActBlue ― facilitated contributions by straw donors and foreign donors into the campaign committees of Democratic candidates and party organizations. This follows separate investigations by congressional Republicans and state attorneys general alleging that ActBlue had loose anti-fraud measures that helped facilitate potentially fraudulent donations to Democratic campaigns and organizations, but did not accuse the platform of violating any laws.
Calling the memorandum a “brazen attack on democracy in America,” ActBlue said in a statement that it would “pursue all legal avenues to protect and defend itself against the Administration’s baseless claims.”
“Today’s escalation by the White House is blatantly unlawful and needs to be seen for what it is: Donald Trump’s latest front in his campaign to stamp out all political, electoral and ideological opposition,” the ActBlue statement says. “This Administration continues to weaponize the instruments of federal power in an unprecedented assault on our democracy.”
The organization further called on “the entire Democratic party and all Americans who embrace the value of civic participation to unite and create a blue wall against the oppressive use of power by this White House and their accomplices in Congress.”
It is illegal for non-U.S. citizens to donate to political campaigns and parties, although they can donate to nonprofit organizations so long as that money is not spent on U.S. elections. It is also illegal for a person to donate to a political campaign or party in someone else’s name. Despite being accused of facilitating these illegal fraudulent donations, the accusations against ActBlue have not been substantiated.
Trump’s memorandum targeting ActBlue also does not accuse it of breaking any law. Instead, it relies on fraud the platform itself discovered and stopped as evidence to launch an investigation.
“A recent House of Representatives investigation revealed that a platform named ActBlue had in recent years detected at least 22 ‘significant fraud campaigns,’ nearly half of which had a foreign nexus,” the memorandum states. “During a 30-day window during the 2024 campaign, the platform detected 237 donations from foreign IP addresses using prepaid cards, indicating that this activity remains a pressing concern.”
ActBlue launched in 2004 as an intermediary platform that connected donors to political campaigns. Over the next 20 years, it grew into the main platform used by nearly all Democratic Party politicians and party committees to raise political contributions. Donors can also donate to various causes through the platform by donating to nonprofit organizations. ActBlue reports raising over $16 billion for Democratic candidates, party committees and other causes in the 21 years since its founding.
The GOP-led investigations and, now, the DOJ investigation ordered by Trump into ActBlue began after right-wing pundit Charlie Kirk promoted a spreadsheet of donations reported to the Federal Election Commission that purported to show fraudulent donations made through ActBlue. That spreadsheet, however, was a product of either an unknowing or willful misunderstanding of how political committees report donations to the FEC.
WinRed, the GOP counterpart to ActBlue, has not faced GOP investigations or Trump executive orders despite reports showing it faces similar issues with fraud detection.
Democrats assailed Trump’s order for the DOJ to investigate ActBlue after the memorandum came down.
“Donald Trump’s memorandum targeting ActBlue is designed to undermine democratic participation – and it’s no wonder why,” a statement from DNC chair Ken Martin, DSCC chair Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.), DCCC chair Rep. Suzan DelBene (Wash.), DGA chair Gov. Laura Kelly (Kan.), Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.), said. “He knows Americans are already fed up with his chaotic agenda that is driving the economy off a cliff, so he’s trying to block lawful grassroots donations from supporters giving just $5 or $10 to candidates who oppose him while further empowering the corrupt billionaires who already control his administration.”
“Today’s presidential decree targeting the campaign infrastructure of the Democratic party with precisely zero evidence of wrongdoing is the kind of edict you’d expect from a power-mad dictator in a Banana Republic,” said House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.). “This president, with his approval ratings underwater and sinking like a stone, is desperately seeking to undermine his political opposition by cutting off their access to funding.”