Democrats Grapple With Trump’s Directive to Investigate ActBlue

A presidential memorandum directing the Justice Department to investigate ActBlue is setting off a scramble among Democratic fundraisers and operatives, who fear that President Donald Trump and the GOP are leveraging executive power to cripple their vaunted fundraising engine.

In the Thursday memorandum, Trump alleged that “online fundraising platforms have been willing participants in schemes to launder excessive and prohibited contributions to political candidates and committees.” The memo specifically names ActBlue, citing a GOP-led congressional investigation into the fundraising platform’s security and anti-fraud practices.

The directive was met with universal condemnation from Democrats, who quickly accused the president of using his office to target his political rivals. In a statement, a spokesperson for ActBlue cast the White House memo as a “brazen attack on democracy in America” and said that the group “will immediately pursue all legal avenues to protect and defend itself against the Administration’s baseless claims.” 

“It is time for the entire Democratic party and all Americans who embrace the value of civic participation to unite and create a blue wall against the oppressive use of power by this White House and their accomplices in Congress,” the spokesperson said. “ActBlue will continue its mission and work undeterred and uninterrupted, providing a safe, secure fundraising platform for the millions of grassroots donors who rely on us.”

ActBlue also distributed a list of talking points to Democratic fundraisers and practitioners on Thursday, urging allies to “talk with your networks and post to social media to help us call this attack out for what it is – an attack on all of us.” The talking points center on defending the platform’s security practices and highlighting the role it plays in grassroots political participation.

Uncertainty for ActBlue

Trump’s memo does not say whether he wants the Justice Department to pursue a potential criminal case against ActBlue. It instructs Attorney General Pam Bondi to report back on the results of the investigation within 180 days. 

A Justice Department investigation into ActBlue would likely create significant vulnerabilities for Democrats’ fundraising infrastructure. The party has relied on ActBlue for years to process billions of dollars in donations, and any potential federal action the platform could throw a wrench into Democrats’ ability to fund campaigns and causes.

The Democratic fundraising platform has faced other challenges in recent months, as well. In addition to GOP-led House investigations, several senior ActBlue officials resigned in February, raising questions about the long-term stability of the platform. 

Still, Democrats raced to ActBlue’s defense on Thursday and Friday. Kalani Tissot, the founder of the fundraising firm Tissot Solutions, called Trump’s memorandum a clear effort to weaponize the federal government against his political opponents. He insisted that fundraising practices wouldn’t change, at least in the short term.

“We will keep using ActBlue for as long as we can,” Tissot said. “They have my full unconditional support.”

The Future of Democratic Fundraising

But another Democratic fundraising consultant, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to candidly discuss the situation, expressed concern that the Trump administration could eventually seek to take ActBlue offline altogether. Democrats, the consultant said, should start to make preparations for a worst-case scenario by exploring alternatives to ActBlue.

“The reality is, Trump has made it very clear that he wants revenge on anyone who opposes him,” the consultant told C&E. “He’s already pushed the limits of what he can do. I don’t think there’s any real basis for investigating ActBlue, but I don’t think that really matters to him at the end of the day.”

There are some alternative platforms available for Democrats. NGP VAN, the Democratic voter data behemoth, launched a payment processing platform last year as a direct competitor to ActBlue. The platform – dubbed NGP VAN Payments – charges a processing fee of 3.25 percent per transaction, undercutting the 3.95 percent charged by ActBlue.

Still, ActBlue has been the centerpiece of Democratic and progressive grassroots fundraising for years, and getting practitioners to migrate away from the platform en masse would be a massive undertaking in and of itself. There’s also a deep belief among Democratic fundraisers that Trump’s targeting of the platform is inherently unjust and unwarranted, prompting many practitioners to dig in their heels for ActBlue.

“This is a PR stunt, not a serious attempt to crack down on illegal behavior,” said Josh Nelson, the CEO of the ad platform Civic Shout who has been critical of some of ActBlue’s fundraising practices. “If the Trump administration had any evidence whatsoever that ActBlue had violated federal law, it would act on it. Instead, they’re engaged in an ideologically-motivated witch hunt designed to harass and intimidate companies that help Democrats raise money.”