President Donald Trump plans to sign a presidential memorandum on Thursday that he will cast as cracking down on foreign contributions in American elections, according to an exclusive report from Politico.
Caught in the crosshairs is a major online donation platform that funds Democratic and progressive causes and elections.
The details of the memorandum had not yet been published, but according to the outlet's sources, “the order is expected to specifically target ActBlue.”
Republicans believe the platform could be exploited by foreign actors and in October, Congress sent a letter to the platform asking how they verify users.
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In a December statement, ActBlue said that its “robust security program and strict fraud prevention measures help us rigorously protect donors’ information, root out potentially unlawful foreign contributions, protect donors from financial fraud, and flag potentially unlawful or fraudulent activity.”
In March, the New York Times reported, at least seven senior ActBlue employees left the organization in February for reasons that were not clear.
Earlier this month, House Republicans published their report about their investigations into the program. The report claims that ActBlue made its standards less stringent on two occasions in 2024, and that the platform has detected in recent years at least 22 potential “fraud campaigns,” nine of which had a “foreign nexus.”
Democrats claim Thursday’s planned action is “an example of Trump baselessly targeting political opponents.”
According to Politico, ActBlue CEO Regina Wallace-Jones sent an email to Democrats saying, “Nothing will deter or interrupt ActBlue’s mission and work to enable millions of Americans to participate in our democracy. There is an ongoing and persistent effort to weaken the confidence of the American people in what’s possible. This is the next version of ‘the big lie.’”
Donors have given more than $400 million to Democratic candidates through ActBlue over the first three months of the year, according to the Associated Press.