As a sweeping congressional investigation into online political fundraising expands, House Speaker Mike Johnson said Thursday he fears foreign adversaries such as China and Iran may launder money to Democrats this election, and vowed lawmakers will take punitive action against foreign actors if the allegations are confirmed.
“This is a huge scandal,” Johnson said Just the news in an interview just days after House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer revealed in a confidential memo to lawmakers that the Treasury Department has confirmed that it has over hundreds Suspicious activity reports (SARs) for possible money laundering linked to the Democratic Party’s massive online fundraising platform known as ActBlue.
Comer, House Administration Committee Chairman Bryan Steil, Senator Ron Johnson and 19 attorneys general have been investigating whether the ActBlue platform is being abused by foreign actors to disguise illegal donations as coming from unwitting and potentially deceived American citizens.
Steil subpoenaed ActBlue for records on Wednesday, saying he has evidence suggesting China, Iran, Russia and Venezuela may be abusing the platform and questioning whether the Democratic fundraising juggernaut has provided sufficient protections to prevent identity theft and fraudulent donations prevent.
Johnson predicted Thursday that new information will be released that “very soon everyone” will have to treat as a news story.
“Major Operation”
“My theory is that they’re taking money from foreigners, mainly Iran, Russia, China and Venezuela, and they’re breaking the donations into smaller gifts and making it look like, you know, this is a wave. of new donors, American people, doing this,” the Louisiana Republican said on the website John Solomon Reports podcast. “And I don’t think it’s true.”
Johnson acknowledged that the investigation is still in its early stages, but that the subpoena was a big step forward.
“These are all allegations,” he said. “They will be investigated and proven.”
You can listen to the full interview here.
Johnson said early evidence suggests there could be a “huge, massive operation” to get money from illegal sources to influence the 2024 election.
He recently used his social media account to give Americans access to a website where they can check whether their identity has been used unknowingly making donations through ActBlue or other online fundraising platforms. He said many people have reported suspicious activity to him using their identities after checking the site.
“I did this as an informal experiment with small groups that I’ve been in for the past two weeks, and there are hits in every group I’m in,” he said. “I am lifelong Republicans, and they have no idea that their names and addresses are being used and these supposedly small dollar donations are being allocated.”
ActBlue, which boasts of raising $16 billion in small donations for left-wing causes since 2004, has broadly denied wrongdoing and said it is cooperating with the various investigations.
But at the same time, ActBlue confirmed to Congressional and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton that it did not use the CVV confirmation codes on credit cards to verify the identities of all donors before processing transactions.
Possible punitive measures
Johnson said he fears Liberal actors may be complicit in aiding illegal fundraising from abroad or elsewhere.
“I think somewhere at the Liberal high command they’ve made the decision, well, you know the benefit outweighs the risk. We’re going to have some fall boys who will eventually go to prison. But you know, we’re going to get an avalanche of money, and we’re going to make sure we win the elections. They will never be able to reverse the results,” he said. ‘I mean, it’s very serious. It has enormous consequences for the country.”
Johnson said he was disappointed that senior intelligence community officials who recently communicated with Congress appeared to have no knowledge of the allegations or the existence of the Suspicious Activity Reports at the Treasury Department.
“If they ever made that available, I didn’t know about it. No one brought it to my attention. We had to do it in reverse,” he said, explaining that lawmakers led authorities to the existence of the SARs.
Johnson said that if foreign money laundering is confirmed in the US political system, he expects Congress to take strong punitive measures against the countries involved.
“I think there’s going to be a big demand for that, and I hope it’s going to be on both sides, you know? I mean, this has serious consequences for the country, and we have to make sure that free and fair elections are obviously a top priority,” he said. “I really think we have to deal with these foreign adversaries and take it seriously.
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