ActBlue launches passport verification as House Republicans probe foreign donations

Right · 2ActBlue, the main online fundraising platform for Democrats, told the House of Representatives in a Monday letter from its attorneys that it is launching a "passport verification program" for donors located abroad. 1 2 Right · 1The letter said the program "adds passport-based identity verification as a further enhancement to ActBlue’s multi-layered approach to fraud and foreign-contribution prevention" and lets U.S. citizens abroad, who have been unable to give through the platform since 2025, resume donating. 1 Right · 1The announcement came days after House Republican investigators released a report accusing the platform of potentially accepting foreign donations; the report said the passport field only checked that an entry had the right number of characters for a U.S. passport number, not that it was valid. 1

Right · 1The report cited a letter from ActBlue CEO Regina Wallace-Jones to Rep. Bryan Steil that said donations from addresses outside the U.S. required a passport number for verification. 1 Right · 2Steil, R-Wis., who chairs the Committee on House Administration, said the new program "only confirms what we've been saying: ActBlue failed to verify the citizenship of individuals who made donations from abroad," and that it "should have been in place on day one." 1 2 Right · 2A spokesperson for House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan said the step confirms the fraud prevention measures were not as robust as Wallace-Jones told Congress, and House Oversight Chairman James Comer said the investigation is "far from over" with more documents and testimony expected in coming weeks. 1 2

Right · 1ActBlue has consistently denied wrongdoing. It said it "accurately described" its vetting process to Congress and that it suspended contributions from outside the U.S. in 2025 amid "unprecedented attacks from President Trump and his allies." 1 Right · 1Responding to the earlier report, ActBlue called it a "political stunt" and said a third-party forensic analysis had undermined a central claim against it; Fox News reports that ten top figures at the company have pleaded the Fifth Amendment in congressional sittings. 1 Right · 1Breitbart adds that Wallace-Jones repeatedly invoked the Fifth Amendment at a June House Administration Committee hearing, and that ActBlue said in September it was a "safe and secure platform" that had helped raise over $19 billion for Democrats. 2