Democratic PAC Accused Of Donor Fraud & Could Paramount Leave California? | 9.18.26

On a recent episode of Morning Wire, Congressman Bryan Steil (R-WI) and Daily Wire Cultural Reporter Megan Basham joined host John Bickley to discuss two major stories: allegations of fraudulent foreign donations to the Democratic fundraising platform ActBlue, and Paramount Studios' potential relocation from California. Daily Wire Reporter Jacob Wheeler also provided an exclusive report on an alleged pay-for-votes scheme in a Texas Senate race.

ActBlue Accused of Accepting Fraudulent Foreign Donations

Congressman Bryan Steil, who is leading the charge on a new report from House Republicans, revealed damning accusations against ActBlue, a major Democratic fundraising platform. The report alleges that ActBlue accepted fraudulent and illegal foreign donations and attempted to conceal relevant information from Republican investigators. Steil emphasized that the report is the culmination of three years of work, investigating whether ActBlue possesses the necessary fraud prevention standards to prevent foreign funds from entering U.S. elections.

"What we show, it's pretty clear that ActBlue is not taking fraud seriously. We know foreign funds are coming in," Steil stated. He expressed concern that ActBlue intentionally misled Congress, a fact also reported by The New York Times. Steil highlighted that American citizens should be concerned about foreign funds infiltrating the U.S. political system, and the report lays out the facts for public review.

Steil detailed one of the most alarming red flags: when asked directly about protocols to prevent foreign actors from making donations to U.S. political campaigns, ActBlue claimed they were reviewing passports to confirm an individual's U.S. citizenship. However, the report found that ActBlue was merely requiring individuals to type in a seven-digit number, not actually validating it against a U.S. passport number. "This is really concerning and it shows a pattern and practice of ActBlue not taking fraud seriously and not working to prevent foreign funds from coming into U.S. elections," Steil asserted.

He further explained that internal documents subpoenaed from ActBlue, which they refused to testify about in public hearings, reveal recommendations from their fraud prevention team to "effectively look the other way." This included processing donations even when IP addresses showed up in places like Hong Kong, and giving the benefit of the doubt to donors rather than conducting additional scrutiny. Steil cited an example where an individual with a Twitter account identifying them as a U.S. person, but with other information suggesting they were foreign, had their donation processed by ActBlue, allowing foreign funds to enter U.S. political campaigns. He reiterated that U.S. elections should be for U.S. persons only, and foreign donors should not be allowed to make donations to U.S. political campaigns.

When asked about the consequences of this report, Steil pointed to The New York Times' clear reporting that ActBlue misled Congress, which he called a "serious offense." He noted that the United States Department of Justice will make its own decision regarding criminal conduct. Steil stressed the need to update campaign finance laws for the digital era, as they were not written for the current environment. He concluded by stating that this is an opportunity to fix the system and hold people accountable if laws were fully broken.