SOUNDBITE: Rep. Bryan Steil On The Latest ActBlue Scandal

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1:03and neither do we. This September, a generous donor has committed to match every dollar given to the Federalist up to $100,000. So your gift isn't just a donation, it's twice the support for the work we're doing every day to expose the truth, challenge the powerful, and give you journalism you can trust. Go to the Federalist.com and double your impact today. That's the Federalist.com. Well, Act Blue, again, seems to not have its act together. We have some very startling revelations. Perhaps not all that surprise, and giving what we know about Act Blue, the Democrats, big fundraising platform, and the issues surrounding that multi-billion dollar platform.

2:05We're joined now on the Federalist Radio Hour by a gentleman who has been investigating this thing for quite some time. He just happens to be the chairman of the House Administration Committee, Representative Brian Style from the great state of Wisconsin joins us now, sir. Thank you for taking some time. Thanks for having me on. Does this surprise you at all? What the Judiciary Committee? I know you've been working very closely with Jim Jordan of the Judiciary Committee and oversight on this issue, but to these new details, these communications from Act Blue surprised you that basically they were waving through foreign donors. I wish I could say that they surprised me. But in many ways, this is almost what you expect. I've been engaged in this investigation now for three years. What we continue to realize is that Act Blue has not been taking fraud seriously. And what we lay out in this report is document and after document that we obtained from Act Blue's

3:10showing internal discussions about their decisions to not take fraud seriously, to often, in their own words, quote, give the donor the benefit of the doubt. And that's true even when there were significance concerns that a contribution may be from a fraudulent foreign donor. So time and again, we have seen Act Blue look the other way in the light of fraud and it is concerning the documents that we have now uncovered and we produce in this report. Act Blue told your committee a long time ago, while back, that its passport verification stops foreign donors based on what I'm seeing here in these communications from the records that the committees have received. That doesn't seem to be the case. You're exactly right. They came forward and told us that when a donation is made from overseas, that they're validating that that's actually a US person abroad. Of course, we all know a

4:13non-citizen is not allowed to donate into US campaigns. And so what we now know is that rather than truly verifying that that's US person, what they were simply doing was requiring the correct number of passport characters to be entered into their web platform. And that was being deemed as verification. We're not actually verifying this against, for example, the US government database. And so they continually were willing to give the donor the benefit of the doubt. Even when other flags should have obviously been raised that a fraudulent or a legal donation was about to be made. Well, this involves a lot of money potentially. Does it not? I just remember when Kamala Harris was basically ordained to the Democrats candidate for president after they threw Joe Biden under the bus. In the summer of 2024, she received just a massive amount of

5:15campaign donations and a lot of those donations coming from from Act Blue. Well, we know that since the website or platform has created its process nearly $20 billion to Democrat campaigns and Democrat causes, we're still telling up what has been processed through the site this year. But we know last year it raised over $1.8 billion for over 50 million contributions. And so this is a real concern. Our campaign finance laws were not written for the digital age. And there's a real need to do two things. One, to hold any individual who's engaged in a legal activity accountable. But two, to update our campaign finance laws for the modern era, when so much money is being processed through digital platforms like Act Blue. Here's an Act Blue Supervisors own words. I want to get you take on it. In one of these communications, the supervisor writes, the donor is foreign, but correctly entered their billing

6:18address approved. That's against the law, isn't it? Well, this is the whole concern is when flag for raised in the system that an individual who is making the donation may be foreign citizen or may otherwise be processing illegal contribution. Act Blue continued to look the other way. In one of their fraud prevention documents for new associates, it says, if an otherwise legitimate donor uses a fake name, we would want to accept their donation. I mean, these are really concerning internal documents that show you that Act Blue has not been taking fraud seriously on its platform. And it's all the more reason that our investigation is so important. You get the sense that this is still going on even after they've promised that they would try to do the handle their security a little bit better. Well, one of the things that's so frustrating is we have invited in Act Blue employees and board members to come in and testify before the American people to ask them those

7:20exact questions and time it again, they have chosen to plead the fifth. Now, of course, they have a constitutional right to do that. And in some ways, I understand why their attorney might give them that advice. But it is frustrating because I think the American people deserve to know exactly what is taking place and what is being done to prevent fraudulent or illegal donations from being processed on this platform. Let me ask you this, how closer they to getting to the Fauci threshold of more than a hundred of pleading of the fifth as he did before Congress this summer. Well, when we had the CEO, Regina Wallace Jones, before us, she pled the fifth when asked what was the correct pronunciation of her name. So they are very clearly not interested in answering very basic questions about how Act Blue operates, how the platform is utilized. And I think it's one of the things that we need to continue to look at and examine because it's absolutely essential that

8:20we know exactly what is taking place on this platform. Final question for you. What is next then based on these emails, based on what you're learning now for your investigation at the House Administration level. Obviously, you're working alongside the judiciary and oversight. Working with Comer and Jordan, we're going to continue to demand answers to the American people period full stop. Everything remains on the table. I am convinced that we need to make sure that we're making real progress to prevent illegal, but in particular foreign funds from coming into US Congressman Brian style. He's representing and has done so. The first district of Wisconsin for a number of years. He's also chairman of the House Administration Committee. They're looking into and have been doing so for some time. The whole Act Blue donation issue involving allegations of foreign donations. Thanks again, sir. Appreciate your time. We will talk soon. Take care. You are tuned in as always to the Federalist Radio Hour. We'll be back soon with more.

9:26Until then, stay lovers of freedom. Anxious for the break. This week at Vons and Albertans, USDA Choice Tri-Tip Rose untrimmed are 599 per pound. Limit 4 roasts with membership were applicable. And medium ripe hassovacados are 99 cents each with membership were applicable. Plus Kellogg cereals 8.8 to 16.1 ounces, selected varieties, or peppered farm goldfish 5.98 ounces are 190.9 each when you buy three. Limit 3 offers with membership were applicable. Visit vons or Albertsons.com for more deals and ways to save. This week at Vons and Albertsons, USDA Choice Tri-Tip Rose untrimmed are 599 per pound. Limit 4 roasts

10:35with membership were applicable. And medium ripe hassovacados are 99 cents each with membership were applicable. Plus Kellogg cereals 8.8 to 16.1 ounces, selected varieties, or peppered farm goldfish 5.98 ounces are 190.9 each when you buy three. Limit 3 offers with membership were applicable. Visit vons or Albertsons.com for more deals and ways to save.