By Jeff Mason and Steve Holland
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President Donald Trump targeted Democratic fundraising group ActBlue and other online fundraising platforms with a presidential memorandum on Thursday that the White House said was aimed at cracking down on illegal foreign contributions in U.S. elections.
The memo, which Trump signed Thursday afternoon, directs Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate and “take appropriate action concerning allegations regarding the use of online fundraising platforms to make ‘straw’ or ‘dummy’ contributions and to make foreign contributions to U.S. political candidates and committees, all of which break the law,” according to a White House statement.
The memo directs Bondi to report the results of the probe to Trump. It cites a congressional investigation that “revealed significant fraud schemes using ActBlue” as well as a 30-day period during the 2024 election in which donations from foreign IP addresses using prepaid cards were detected.
ActBlue, which says it has raised billions of dollars online since 2004, called the move an attack on democracy.
“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 organization said. “ActBlue will immediately pursue all legal avenues to protect and defend itself.”
The heads of several Democratic groups, including the Democratic National Committee, also condemned Trump’s action. “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,” they said.
Trump, who maintains his false claims that the 2020 presidential election was fraudulent, has sought to use his authority to align U.S. election practices with his world view.
In March he signed an executive order that would require voters to prove they are U.S. citizens, although a U.S. judge on Thursday ruled that the order cannot be enforced. Democrats and other groups have said the order risked denying eligible citizens the right to vote.
The judge, however, declined to block parts of the order that attempt to prevent states from counting mail-in ballots after Election Day.
The White House alleged in its statement on Thursday that online fundraising platforms were being used to “launder excessive and prohibited contributions to political candidates and committees.” It accused unspecified “bad actors” of seeking to evade donation limits by splitting large contributions into several smaller ones and attributing them to people without their consent.
“President Trump is taking action to address malign actors and foreign nationals who seek to illegally influence American elections, undermining the integrity of our electoral process,” the White House said.
(Reporting by Jeff Mason and Steve HollandEditing by Colleen Jenkins, Cynthia Osterman and Leslie Adler)
Read the full article here
