Trump Targets ActBlue, Fundraising Platforms in Push Against Foreign Contributions
United States: President Donald Trump targeted Democratic fundraising group ActBlue and other online fundraising platforms with a presidential memorandum on Thursday that the White House said was aimed at cracking down on illegal foreign contributions in U.S. elections, as reported by Reuters.
Trump Takes Action on Foreign Donations
On Thursday afternoon, Trump signed the memo, which instructs Attorney General Pam Bondi to look into 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,” the White House said.
The document mandates that Bondi must present Trump with the investigation findings. The findings reported in the memo describe how congressional investigators discovered major fraud operations running through ActBlue before identifying foreign IP address donations involving prepaid cards during 30 days in the 2024 election.
ActBlue Responds: A Legal Battle Ahead
Since 2004, the online fundraising platform ActBlue has accumulated billions of dollars, but it defines this investigation as an attack against democracy.
First Trump targeted colleges, then law firms, then dissenters from his first term
— Norm Eisen (#TryingTrump out now!) (@NormEisen) April 24, 2025
Today it’s ActBlue—a platform that empowers millions of grassroots donors
This is a coordinated effort to weaponize the government against anyone Trump sees as a threathttps://t.co/ACAEwmHJqQ
“Today’s escalation by the White House is blatantly unlawful and needs to be seen for what it is: Donald Trump’s latest front in his campaign to stamp out all political, electoral, and ideological opposition,” the organization said. “ActBlue will immediately pursue all legal avenues to protect and defend itself.”
DNC and Democratic Leaders Criticize Trump’s Move
The leaders of the Democratic National Committee and other Democratic organizations also denounced Trump’s conduct. “He’s trying to block lawful grassroots donations from supporters giving just $5 or $10 to candidates who oppose him while further empowering the corrupt billionaires who already control his administration,” they claimed.
Since Trump repeatedly declared the 2020 presidential election as fraudulent, he has attempted to use presidential powers to redirect U.S. election systems into agreement with his belief system.
Trump’s Broader Push for Election Reform
Trump signed an executive order about voter citizenship verification, but a U.S. judge blocked the enforcement of this measure in March. Several groups, together with Democrats, believe that this order might result in eligible voters being unable to cast their ballots.
BREAKING 🚨 | 🇺🇸 President Trump to target ActBlue, Democrats’ online donation platform, in presidential order targeting foreign donations » Politico
— The Election Post (@ElectionPostUSA) April 24, 2025
📍Follow us @ElectionPostUSA 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/wGIaFDohsq
The judge chose to maintain the sections of the order that target states for counting mail-in votes after Election Day.
According to the White House’s statement on Thursday, the online fundraising platforms operated as money transit systems for donors who gave excessive or prohibited contributions to political candidates and committees. The White House statement argued that unidentified “bad actors” aimed to get around donation restrictions through the method of breaking big gifts into multiple smaller donations which they concealed from genuine donors, as reported by Reuters.
“President Trump is taking action to address malign actors and foreign nationals who seek to illegally influence American elections, undermining the integrity of our electoral process,” the White House said.
