Trump plans to target Actblue, the Democrats’ cash flow engine

President Trump plans on Thursday to ask the Ministry of Justice to investigate Actblue, the fundraising platform that feeds practically all Democratic candidates and caused, according to an informed of preparations. The movement rises Republican effort To paralyze the political infrastructure of their adversaries.

It will be the third time in three weeks that Mr. Trump has ordered the government to target a perceived political enemy, a drastic expansion of its use of its powers to try to harm domestic adversaries.

Trump plans to call an investigation by the Attorney General Pam Bondi in Actblue, which is used through the ecosystem of the Democratic Party to collect online donations. The investigation is ostensibly intended to examine the possible unleashed donations made by people on behalf of someone else, called straw donations, as well as contributions from the hard dollar of foreign donors.

The imminent action of Mr. Trump represents a threat to one of the main financial cogs of the left, which could hinder the ability of Democrats to participate in the elections. It is likely to please elements of its base, for which Actblue has become a higher target. Congress Republicans inquired separately What they claim are the insufficient security provisions of the platform.

For days, democratic groups feared that the White House will plan executive decrees or memorandums that target a range of non -profit organizations. The managers of the White House insisted that no order of this type was written and maintained this position for days.

THURSDAY, Politico And other media reported that Mr. Trump was planning to sign a memorandum Actblue later during the day. The informed person of preparations insisted that the memorandum was different from the type of order that the Democrats had speculated could be in sight, because it was linked to foreign donations.

A little over two weeks ago, Trump signed memorandums targeting two officials of his first mandate for his current government inquiry. One, Miles Taylor, deeply criticized the president. The other, Chris Krebs, was targeted for rejecting Mr. Trump’s false allegations of generalized electoral fraud involving voting machines.

Actblue’s republican control has focused on claims – so far without foundation – that it allows donations of straw and foreigners. The federal elections law prohibits straw donations and prohibits foreign citizens without permanent residence from making a donation directly to federal political candidates or to political action committees.

An investigation by the Ministry of Justice on Actblue is likely to create vulnerabilities for the entire Democratic Fund collection apparatus. Party consultants relied on Actblue to make donations. Applicants, committees for federal and state legislative chambers and liberal caucus use the platform as a main mechanism to process donations.

“Actblue plays an essential role by allowing all Americans to participate in our democracy and the organization strictly respects all federal and state laws governing its activities,” said Megan Hughes, spokesperson for Actblue. “We will always remain firm to defend the rights of all Americans to participate in our democracy and Actblue will continue its uninterrupted and uninterrupted mission, offering a safe and secure funds for funding for the millions of basic donors that count on us.”

There is a great fear through the Democratic Party that all the entities that used Actblue could soon be entangled in an investigation into foreign contributions from a hostile justice ministry with the management of Trump.

While the word of the imminent memorandum of Trump was traveling among the Democrats, the panicked Democrats castigated funds for fundraising.

“Please, even if we can, make a donation to the emergency fund of my campaign via Actblue,” Senator Ruben Gallego de l’Arizona wrote Thursday afternoon. “Any amount at all. We must be ready for any results, and we have to start preparing now.”

Actblue himself has entered the fundraising game. Regina Wallace-Jones, director general of the platform, wrote to democratic partners on Wednesday evening to ask for money to help “fight against downside of the right, and to reconquer power in Washington, DC and government rooms across the country”.

She wrote that the imminent threat of a decree or a memorandum from Mr. Trump had already damaged Actblue and his allies.

“The current distraction and exhaustion strategy is effective,” she wrote. “We see it across the country and we are not immune to that ourselves. The circulation effect of the initial innuendo of the OE has caused many members of anxiety and the distress of the ecosystem. ”

Actblue has faced internal troubles since Trump won the presidential election in November. At least seven senior officials left the organization At the end of February, two unions prompted employees to warn of an “alarming model” of departures which “eroded our confidence in the stability of the organization”.

The Republicans encouraged the Trump administration to investigate Actblue.

This month, the leaders of three Chamber’s committees led by the Republicans accused the group not to do enough to prevent fraud and asked for more information on recent resignations. Last week, several of the people who left Actblue received their own letters asking them to appear before the Republican investigators of the Congress.

Last month, several Republican legislators urged the Treasury Secretary Scott Besse to investigate Actblue or help them do so.

And the Andy Biggs representative of Arizona asked the FBI To investigate the question of whether Actblue had enabled the Democrats “to bypass the integrity of federal laws on the financing of campaigns”, including by dealing with donations from hostile foreign countries.

Elon Musk, the billionaire councilor of the president who paid hundreds of millions of dollars in the 2024 elections, criticized Actblue for weeks, saying without evidence that the organization was financed by Democrats megadonors, including Herb Sandler, who died in 2019. Thursday, Mr. Musk wrote on his social media platform. “”

Last month, the White House called on Scott Walter, president of the Group Group of Conservative Surveillance Capital Research Center, who investigated Actblue, to inform senior officials of the organization and other aspects of democratic political funding.

Walter suggested that the planned memorandum concerned compliance with electoral law on Thursday and was not part of the effort to undermine the electoral prospects of the Democrats.

“Liberal funding programs for political and charity donations have aroused criticism from left and right-wing childcare,” he said in a statement.

Democrats and their allies reject this.

In a fundraising e -mail Thursday, the press organization aligned by Democrats, Courier Newsroom, said that actions against Actblue and other liberal groups “do not concern elections safety – it is a question of silencing dissent and cutting the resources from resistance to the basis of Trump’s authoritarianism.”