Originally Authored at TheFederalist.com
U.S. intelligence officials appear “clueless” about an alleged campaign money-laundering scheme on behalf of Democrat candidates now the subject of several lawsuits and soon lawmaker subpoenas, U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson tells The Federalist.
For the better part of the past two years, the Wisconsin Republican has been raising alarm bells about alleged “smurfing” activities through ActBlue, Democrats’ online donation platform that has taken in millions of dollars for Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign. As Johnson notes in a recent column in The Daily Caller, the practice appears to involve hundreds, even thousands, of low-dollar donations made in the names of individuals without their knowledge. Some suspect the money is coming from wealthy foreign actors looking to affect U.S. elections — especially next month’s presidential election.
As Just the News first reported, Wisconsin conservative strategist Mark Block, who claims he’s a victim of the alleged scheme, names ActBlue in a recent racketeering lawsuit charging that unnamed participants have violated the Wisconsin Organized Control Act.
‘Straw Donations’
On Thursday, Johnson and fellow Badger State Republican Rep. Bryan Steil sent letters to the U.S. Treasury Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) seeking a classified briefing on “potential election interference through fraudulent donations by foreign actors.”
Johnson, ranking member of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, and Steil, chairman of the House Administration Committee, requested Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) related to ActBlue. They also requested that all three agencies provide classified briefings on the matter.
Steil’s committee has been investigating claims that “foreign actors, primarily from Iran, Russia, Venezuela, and China, may be using ActBlue to launder illicit money into U.S. political campaigns. Our investigation has indicated that these actors may be exploiting existing U.S. donors by making straw donations without their knowledge,” the letter states.
The investigations have uncovered evidence “pointing to” illegal donations broken up into smaller amounts to get around legal contribution limits, according to the letter. Steil has warned of the use of prepaid debit, credit, and gift cards employed in the names of legitimate donors “to make straw donations that are virtually impossible to detect.” In one case, the lawmakers note, 5,776 donations were made totaling $754,124.
‘Turning a Blind Eye’
So far, it’s been radio silence, Johnson said.
“We haven’t heard a word from them,” the senator told The Federalist in an interview Wednesday. He’s not confident the committees will hear back from the same agencies that feverishly worked to silence the Hunter Biden laptop story as “Russian interference” days before the 2020 election — a real disinformation campaign.
Johnson said he first wrote to the Federal Election Commission about his concerns in April 2023 following an O’Keefe Media Group video tracking alleged incidents of smurfing. He said the FEC has refused to confirm or deny whether it’s investigating the alleged campaign finance law violations.
“I keep hearing they don’t have the ability to investigate,” the senator said. “These federal agencies are turning a complete blind eye to what I consider clear-cut violations of campaign finance laws.”
As Johnson noted in his recent Daily Caller op-ed, intelligence directors seem obtuse about the growing number of red flags around the suspect mass donations through ActBlue. The senator noted an “All Members Classified Briefing on Foreign Threats to U.S. Elections” in late September, led by Avril Haines, director of National Intelligence, FBI Director Christopher Wray, and Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Director Jen Easterly.
The presentation included “absolutely nothing about the most egregious examples of election interference in our lifetime, or the most significant threats to the integrity of the 2024 election,” Johnson wrote. He said the FBI’s Wray “seemed clueless” on the ActBlue issue “and had no idea if the FBI was doing anything to investigate it.”
‘Pattern of Racketeering Activity’
Mark Block, who served as chief of staff for 2012 GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain, has filed what New York Post columnist Miranda Devine describes as a “bombshell racketeering lawsuit” in Wisconsin’s Waukesha County Circuit Court.
Block alleges that his personal identifying information was “fraudulently used” to make more than 385 small campaign donations of more than $884 to 62 campaigns and political organizations — 35 of which went to the Harris Victory Fund. The contributions, averaging $3.24 per transaction, fit into a federal election law loophole that doesn’t require campaigns to itemize donations from contributors when the total amount is less than $200, the lawsuit notes.
“Campaigns that receive contributions below $200 can simply bundle the donation into a list of un-itemized contributions,” the complaint in Block v. John Doe states.
Within a day of Harris moving to replace President Joe Biden as the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate, the vice president reportedly raked in $81 million from nearly 890,000 grassroots donors. By the end of the month, the campaign boasted $310 million in total donations. That breaks records for daily and weekly totals. Block challenges the campaign’s claim it was all “grassroots energy and enthusiasm” driving the massive haul.
In his lawsuit, Block alleges that in May, ActBlue began sending receipts to an old email address he used. ActBlue stated that donations had been made in the name of “Bernie Cain,” a pseudonym he had previously used, Block claims. The conservative says he didn’t “make, authorize or consent” to any of the contributions to leftist candidates. He includes a spreadsheet detailing each of the ActBlue donations ostensibly made using his personal information.
“Of these donations, 86 were initiated as one-time donations, 234 were set up as donations recurring on a weekly basis, and 65 recur on a monthly basis,” the complaint states. The donations list a UPS mailbox located in Santa Monica, Calif. Block claims he is not connected in any way with the credit card used for the donations and has never authorized its use to make donations through his Cain accounts.
The complaint alleges multiple felonies, including the fraudulent use of personally identifiable information and identity theft. The lawsuit claims the alleged perpetrators have violated the Wisconsin Organized Crime Control Act, meeting the “pattern of racketeering activity” and “enterprise” requirements under the statute.
“By making these fraudulent donations, John Doe associated with ActBlue in pursuit of a common goal: funding Democratic campaigns and organizations to advance left-leaning policies,” states the complaint, which seeks an injunction and damages.
‘I Certainly Intend to Pursue This’
Attorneys general in Texas, Virginia, Wyoming, and elsewhere have raised concerns about the potential for foreign donors and other bad actors to use the conduit to interfere with U.S. elections.
As Johnson and Steil note in their letter to the intelligence heads, the House Administration Committee a year ago sent a letter to ActBlue asking how the platform blocks contributions from foreign sources. ActBlue acknowledged that it did not require contributors to provide their card verification value (CVV) code when making an online contribution to a Democrat campaign. That lapse, which ActBlue says it has fixed, “may have allowed foreign actors to fraudulently participate in the political process in the U.S.”
A House Administration Committee data analysis, comparing more than 200 million FEC donation records with data on age, party affiliation, and other information, found “several anomalies and mismatches in the FEC records, suggesting that foreign entities may be using these tactics to interfere with U.S. elections,” according to the lawmakers.
Steil has introduced the Secure Handling of Internet Electronic Donations (SHIELD) Act that would “prohibit political committees like ActBlue from accepting online contributions from debit or credit cards without the disclosure of the CVV and billing address associated with the card.” It would also bar contributions from gift cards, prepaid credit or debit cards, or gift certificates.
ActBlue officials did not return The Federalist’s request for comment, but the nonprofit has criticized what it sees as “partisan political” attacks and scare tactics to “undermine the power of Democratic and progressive small-dollar donors.” An ActBlue official recently told the Hill, “[W]e are aware of recent attempts to spread misinformation about our platform.”
While Biden-Harris administration intelligence officials may stonewall congressional investigations, Johnson said that will change if former President Donald Trump returns to the White House and Republicans hold the House and take back the Senate.
“I certainly intend to pursue this,” the senator told The Federalist. “I will be issuing subpoenas, if Bryan Steil doesn’t beat me to the punch.”
For more election news and updates, visit electionbriefing.com.
Matt Kittle is a senior elections correspondent for The Federalist. An award-winning investigative reporter and 30-year veteran of print, broadcast, and online journalism, Kittle previously served as the executive director of Empower Wisconsin.