The president and chief executive officer of ActBlue repeatedly invoked her Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination on Wednesday when lawmakers pressed her about the Democratic donation platform allegedly accepting foreign payments.ActBlue, the primary payment processor of the Democratic Party, is accused of allowing foreign actors to influence U.S. elections in favor of Democrats and lying to Congress about vulnerabilities in its donor-vetting system.ActBlue CEO Regina Wallace-Jones faced pointed questions at a House hearing on Wednesday concerning past statements she made attesting to the platform’s fraud-prevention practices.
Rep. Bryan Steil (R-WI), chairman of the House Administration Committee, asked Wallace-Jones about a 2023 letter she sent him assuring lawmakers that the company has robust safeguards in place to prevent campaign contributions from foreign sources.
“Only donations with passport information are processed,” Wallace-Jones wrote at the time.
ActBlue’s lawyers, however, later warned in internal memos obtained by the New York Times that the CEO’s statements to Congress were inaccurate and could pose legal risks. The attorneys found that foreign nationals may have used third-party donation portals, such as PayPal and Venmo, to bypass ActBlue’s passport documentation requirements.
