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RandySF

(73,570 posts)
Thu Apr 24, 2025, 03:15 PM Yesterday

Trump to target ActBlue in presidential memorandum

In a shot at ActBlue, the left’s major online donation platform, President Donald Trump plans to sign a presidential memorandum on Thursday that he will cast as cracking down on foreign contributions in American elections, according to a person familiar with the policy and granted anonymity to discuss not-yet-public details.

Attorney General Pam Bondi’s office is expected to be involved in the effort, the person said. The order is expected to specifically target ActBlue. Republicans have long claimed the platform could be exploited by foreign actors, while Democrats have warned the action is an example of Trump baselessly targeting political opponents.

After this article was published, POLITICO obtained a fact sheet on the memo confirming the details. The memo will direct Bondi to “investigate and take appropriate action concerning allegations regarding the use of online fundraising platforms to make ‘straw’ or ‘dummy’ contributions and to make foreign contributions to U.S. political candidates and committees, all of which break the law” and report results to the president and his general counsel, according to the fact sheet.

Democrats had been bracing in recent days for potential action from the White House against the platform, casting it as an unwarranted attack on their fundraising efforts. In an email to Democrats on Wednesday referring to a potential coming action from the White House targeting the platform, ActBlue CEO Regina Wallace-Jones wrote, “Nothing will deter or interrupt ActBlue’s mission and work to enable millions of Americans to participate in our democracy. There is an ongoing and persistent effort to weaken the confidence of the American people in what’s possible. This is the next version of ‘the big lie.’”




https://www.politico.com/news/2025/04/24/trump-to-target-actblue-in-presidential-memorandum-00307251

6 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Trump to target ActBlue in presidential memorandum (Original Post) RandySF Yesterday OP
The Only Way Republicans Can Win Chasstev365 Yesterday #1
Projection and lies. POS. 58Sunliner Yesterday #2
Are they also investigating similar efforts on the right? Redleg Yesterday #3
Trying for excuses when they lose in 2026 Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin Yesterday #4
Wow Demovictory9 Yesterday #5
Maddow Blog-Trump signs order targeting Democrats' fundraising platform, sparking authoritarian fears LetMyPeopleVote 5 hrs ago #6

Redleg

(6,465 posts)
3. Are they also investigating similar efforts on the right?
Thu Apr 24, 2025, 05:17 PM
Yesterday

This seems biased on its face. I wouldn't expect less from the likes of Trump and Bondi. These are some lawless m@ther-forgers.

LetMyPeopleVote

(162,024 posts)
6. Maddow Blog-Trump signs order targeting Democrats' fundraising platform, sparking authoritarian fears
Fri Apr 25, 2025, 05:57 PM
5 hrs ago

Sometimes, the president’s authoritarian tactics are subtle. His new offensive against the ActBlue donation platform is far more overt.
https://bsky.app/profile/democracyblue.bsky.social/post/3lnnn6eeakk23

Trump signs order targeting Democrats’ fundraising platform, sparking authoritarian fears
Sometimes, the president’s authoritarian tactics are subtle. His new offensive against the ActBlue donation platform is far more overt.



https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/trump-signs-order-targeting-democrats-fundraising-platform-sparking-au-rcna202970

For many years, Republican officials looked at ActBlue with envy. The more the donation platform positioned itself as an effective and successful tool that fueled the Democratic Party’s fundraising, the more GOP insiders wished they had something comparable......

It was against this backdrop that Donald Trump took matters one step further, signing an executive memorandum aimed at investigating his political opposition’s infrastructure. NBC News reported:

The memorandum directs Attorney General Pam Bondi to ‘investigate allegations regarding the unlawful use of online fundraising platforms to make “straw” or “dummy” contributions or foreign contributions to political candidates and committees, and to take appropriate action to enforce the law.’ It specifically names ActBlue as an online fundraising platform being used ‘to improperly influence American elections.’


Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the ranking member on the House Judiciary Committee, issued a compelling written statement soon after the president’s move, describing it as “a striking development.”

“Donald Trump pocketed millions of dollars in unlawful payments from foreign governments during his first term, his Administration shut down a probe into whether his campaign received an illegal and urgent $10 million bribe from Egypt, and foreign nationals are spending millions on Trump-owned cryptocurrencies right now in apparent hopes of buying their way out of federal criminal investigations through undisclosed payments. The Trump Administration has also systematically dismantled crime-fighting efforts at the Department of Justice aimed at foreign corruption of our politics and actually announced its indifference to violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

“So it’s rich indeed for Americans to read now that Trump has launched a big initiative to ‘crack down on foreign influence’ in American politics with one purpose — crippling the fundraising platform of his political opponents.

“Today’s presidential decree targeting the campaign infrastructure of the Democratic Party with precisely zero evidence of wrongdoing is the kind of edict you’d expect from a power-mad dictator in a Banana Republic. This president, with his approval ratings underwater and sinking like a stone, is desperately seeking to undermine his political opposition by cutting off their access to funding.”
......

I’m also reminded of a recent New York Times analysis — published weeks before the directive related to ActBlue — about the scope and direction of Trump’s efforts against Democratic politics.

Executive actions intended to cripple top Democratic law firms. Investigations of Democratic fund-raising and organizing platforms. Ominous suggestions that nonprofits aligned with Democrats or critical of President Trump should have their tax exemptions revoked. Mr. Trump and his allies are aggressively attacking the players and machinery that power the left, taking a series of highly partisan official actions that, if successful, will threaten to hobble Democrats’ ability to compete in elections for years to come.


Sometimes, Trump’s authoritarian tactics are subtle. The new offensive against ActBlue was far more overt.

I have lost count of the number of emails/texts that I have received on this. I am current the treasurer of one gpac and have been the treasurer of several other gpacs in the past. ActBlue is careful about donors and this attack will not go anywhere
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