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- Delaney Sawyer via fox - Politics
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Another ActBlue board member pleads Fifth in House probe into alleged foreign donations
ReAnother ActBlue board member pleads Fifth in House probe into alleged foreign donations
Kimberly Peeler-Allen, a board member of the Democratic fundraising platform ActBlue, invoked her Fifth Amendment right during testimony before three House committees investigating allegations that the organization accepted foreign donations and failed to prevent fraud.
Kimberly Peeler-Allen, a board member of the Democratic fundraising platform ActBlue, invoked her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination while testifying before House committees investigating allegations that the organization accepted illicit foreign donations, according to sources familiar with the testimony.
Peeler-Allen's appearance on Capitol Hill came as part of a joint probe by the House Administration, Judiciary, and Oversight Committees into claims that ActBlue failed to prevent fraud and allowed foreign money into U.S. elections. Her decision follows ActBlue co-founder Matt DeBergalis, who also pleaded the Fifth during a closed-door deposition before the same three committees on Aug. 20.
The Committee on House Administration first opened its investigation into ActBlue in 2023. Chairman Bryan Steil, R-Wis., has said the group may have accepted foreign or fraudulent donations by not requiring a credit card CVV number for contributions. In a Tuesday interview, Steil expressed frustration over the refusal of ActBlue-affiliated individuals to cooperate with the investigation.
«I've been frustrated, that individuals [in] ActBlue haven't answered our questions on the record,» Steil said. «We've had individuals come, in public testimony, and plead the Fifth. They have a right to do that. And I understand why they did that. But I think the American people deserve to know exactly what's going on.»
Steil noted that ActBlue has raised roughly $20 billion since its creation and moved that money into Democratic campaigns and causes. «We want to make sure that they have the fraud prevention protocols in place to make sure that foreign funds are not coming into U.S. elections,» he said.
Responding to allegations that the investigation is partisan, Steil rejected that notion, pointing to public reporting that raised questions about ActBlue's practices. «This investigation began as a review of online fundraising platforms and a determination whether or not those platforms had fraud prevention programs in place to prevent foreign funds from coming into U.S. elections,» he said. «One of those, ActBlue, has been called out by The New York Times [for] having misled or lied to Congress.»
In an April investigative report, The New York Times revealed that ActBlue's legal counsel advised the organization that its chief executive, Regina Wallace-Jones, may have misled lawmakers in a letter to House Republicans. Wallace-Jones had characterized the organization's screening process for foreign donations as «multilayered,» but the Times reported that ActBlue's counsel said the steps she described were not always followed, calling her response «a substantial risk for ActBlue.»
Wallace-Jones also pleaded the Fifth during her own deposition to Steil's committee in June. ActBlue did not immediately respond to a request for further comment.
