Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton called on the Federal Election Commission to investigate evidence he uncovered of possible illegal foreign donations through ActBlue.
Paxton issued a statement about the results of his investigation into the Democratic donation portal on Monday.
“Our investigation into ActBlue has uncovered facts indicating that bad actors can illegally interfere in American elections by disguising political donations,” said Paxton. “It is imperative that the FEC close off the avenues we have identified by which foreign contributions or contributions in excess of legal limits could be unlawfully funneled to political campaigns, bypassing campaign finance regulations and compromising our electoral system.”
Paxton initiated his investigation into ActBlue in Dec. 2023, and the portal’s directors responded by adding another security measure to credit card users on the site. Paxton said that was not enough, however.
“I am calling on the FEC to immediately begin rulemaking to secure our elections from any criminal actors exploiting these vulnerabilities,” he added.
In July, independent investigators reported finding evidence of suspicious donations to ActBlue. Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares opened an investigation and called on ActBlue to explain the alleged evidence that donations were “being made from fictional donors or dummy accounts, or that information reported by or through ActBlue may be fraudulent.”
ActBlue officials accused the AG of adding credibility to a “years-long disinformation and harassment” campaign against the portal.
“This investigation is nothing more than a partisan political attack and scare tactic to undermine the power of Democratic and progressive small-dollar donors,” the statement from ActBlue stated. “We welcome the opportunity to respond to these frivolous claims.”
The portal has also dumped several Political Action Committee organizations that were being accused of behaving like “Scam PACs” that promise to aid campaigns but instead spent lavishly to the benefit of organizers.
An ActBlue spokesperson said only that the PACs were jettisoned over their misuse of the information available on the portal.
The Harris-Walz campaign has reported raising over a billion dollars in campaign donations, dwarfing previous presidential successes.
