ActBlue investigation will continue, top Republican raises prospect of Justice Department action

A top House Republican leading the investigation into ActBlue has warned that Democrats' main fundraising platform could potentially face criminal charges. Committee on House Administration Chairman Bryan Steil made the warning.

Steil, a Republican from Wisconsin, said the congressional investigation into ActBlue would continue. He said he suspected the Department of Justice would act as well if federal prosecutors believed a crime could be proven in court.

Steil said ActBlue did not have the fraud prevention standards in place necessary to prevent foreign funds from finding their way, through the ActBlue platform, into Democratic campaigns and Democratic causes. He said the investigation needs to continue.

Steil's committee, along with the House committees on oversight and the judiciary, have for years probed allegations that ActBlue's lax verification standards have allowed foreign cash to seep into American elections. ActBlue has denied any wrongdoing and dismissed the probe as a partisan attack.

ActBlue has sought to shore up its donor verification standards as the probe has gone on, including most recently rolling out a new passport verification system.

Steil said the investigation is about getting the facts to the American people and putting lawmakers in a position to update campaign finance laws for the digital era. He said so many campaign finance laws were written for a previous time.

President Donald Trump directed then Attorney General Pam Bondi to open an investigation into ActBlue in April 2025, but the current status of that probe is unknown. The Department of Justice was asked for an update in light of Steil's comments.

The platform has long been used by many Democrats to raise money for their political campaigns, including Democratic leaders in the House and Senate. It said it paused donations from Americans abroad in 2025.

ActBlue has consistently denied wrongdoing. Ten top figures within the company, including executives and founders, have pleaded the Fifth Amendment to avoid answering questions in both public and private sit-downs with Republican-led committees.

ActBlue chief executive Regina Wallace-Jones prepared to testify before the House Administration Committee hearing in Washington, DC, on June 10, 2026, on preventing fraudulent donations, transparency, verification and accountability. Wallace-Jones invoked the Fifth Amendment during questioning.

A new report released earlier this month appeared to show employees green-lighting donations despite some questions about where they came from.

Chief among the Republicans' concerns was ActBlue's passport number verification. According to the report, the field only required the correct number of characters for a US passport number rather than a valid code for a donation to be accepted.

A letter sent to House investigators by ActBlue's lawyers earlier this month said its new program adds passport-based identity verification as a further enhancement to ActBlue's multi-layered approach to fraud and foreign-contribution prevention. The letter said the new program uses the best available technology to allow eligible donors located abroad to verify their identity using a valid US passport.

Steil said at the time that the update only confirms what they have been saying: ActBlue failed to verify the citizenship of individuals who made donations from abroad. ActBlue was asked for comment on Steil's most recent remarks.