The ActBlue Targeting Is a Perfect Opportunity to Flip Trump’s EOs on His Head

For some time, I’ve been saying that those opposing Trump need to take the stated goals laid out in his Executive Orders and turn that against him.

For example, Trump has ordered the entire Executive Branch to combat antisemitism. Yet Ed Martin is trying to get through confirmation to remain US Attorney for DC by blatantly lying about his knowledge of Timothy Hale-Cusanelli’s open support for Nazism. There should be a concerted campaign to use Trump’s stated opposition to using federal funds to support antisemites to target every one of the white nationalists he harbors in various agencies.

Similarly, his effort to combat anti-Christian discrimination could and should be used to combat some of his attacks on government. Among the USAID programs that DOGE destroyed, for example, were legal programs helping Christian minorities overseas. Why not use that as proof that Marco Rubio is violating Trump’s EO?

His Executive Order targeting ActBlue is perhaps the most promising such example. The EO itself, probably because Trump’s targeting of law firms and trans people are legally struggling because of the clear animus, does not name ActBlue specifically. Here’s the guts of the order.

Further, there is evidence to suggest that foreign nationals are seeking to misuse online fundraising platforms to improperly influence American elections. A recent House of Representatives investigation revealed that a platform named ActBlue had in recent years detected at least 22 “significant fraud campaigns”, nearly half of which had a foreign nexus. During a 30-day window during the 2024 campaign, the platform detected 237 donations from foreign IP addresses using prepaid cards, indicating that this activity remains a pressing concern.

These activities undermine the integrity of our electoral process. Therefore, I direct the Attorney General, in consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury, to use all lawful authority, as necessary, 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 all appropriate actions to enforce the law.

The accompanying Fact Sheet, however, makes it quite clear that he is targeting critical infrastructure of Democrats’ fundraising, ActBlue, and only that.

  • Recently uncovered evidence suggests that online fundraising platforms are being used to launder excessive and prohibited contributions to political candidates and committees.
  • Bad actors have sought to evade Federal source and amount limitations by breaking down large contributions into smaller ones, often attributing them to numerous individuals without their consent or knowledge.
  • These “straw donations” are frequently made through “dummy” accounts, using methods such as gift cards or prepaid credit cards to avoid detection.
  • ActBlue has become notorious for its lax standards that enable unverified and fraudulent donations.
  • A recent House of Representatives investigation found that ActBlue detected at least 22 “significant fraud campaigns” in recent years—nearly half of which had a foreign nexus.
    • Over a 30-day window during the 2024 election cycle, ActBlue detected 237 donations from foreign IP addresses using prepaid cards.
  • The investigation revealed that ActBlue trained employees to “look for reasons to accept contributions,” even in the face of suspicious activity.
  • Until recently, ActBlue accepted political contributions without requiring a card verification value (CVV), making it easy to contribute without identity verification.
    • Before addressing this issue in response to a congressional investigation, ActBlue tested whether this would hurt its fundraising.
  • Numerous state attorneys general have opened investigations into ActBlue over suspicious donations made through obscured identities and untraceable means.

Never mind that there have been far more significant questions raised about WinRed, the right wing equivalent. Never mind that various kinds of campaign help from Russia, including from Yevgeniy Prigozhin’s trolls, were among the violations that Republicans on the FEC refused to investigate. Never mind that Pam Bondi seems to have made no headway in identifying the entities, purportedly located in Russia, that caused bomb threats during the election last year.

But the notion that Donald Trump — on the same day that he rolled out a transparent scheme to get big donations via cryptocurrency by selling access to the White House — gives a shit about foreign donations is farcical.

As Molly White noted, the second largest donation in the surge that resulted was made via Binance — meaning it was probably not a US donor.

It seems to be working: as of writing, the second entry on the leaderboard is a wallet that purchased 400,000 $TRUMP shortly after the announcement for around $5.3 million.1 Another later purchaser achieved the #3 spot by purchasing over 650,000 $TRUMP for a whopping $8 million — interestingly, funded by a Binance account, suggesting that the wallet holder is not based in the US.2b

$8 million in $TRUMP purchases, funded by a Binance transfer

The fourth-place spot is also occupied by a wallet that was funded by Binance, which purchased $3 million in $TRUMP. In first place is Justin Sun, who has used the TRUMP holdings belonging to his HTX cryptocurrency exchange, notionally priced at $14.6 million, to secure an invite.

b. Binance.com is not available to US-based traders. While the company’s Binance.US arm does allow Americans on the platform, it uses different hot wallets from the one used by this purchaser.

Those Binance donors are a clear example of someone hiding their (likely foreign) identity while donating huge amounts to the President, while he uses the trappings of office both to protect their secrecy and to add value to the donations.

Trump has ordered Pam Bondi to investigate foreign political donors, period. This creates a lever — at the very least a political one, but if done right, a legal one — to hold Bondi accountable for her clear bias.

On her first day on the job, Bondi said she wasn’t going to investigate foreign influence in elections anymore, a move that was undoubtedly done to shelter Trump’s own misconduct. But now Trump has ordered her to do just that.

Pam Bondi will obediently do as she bid, even as ActBlue has cause to sue about the selective targeting of ActBlue. But that provides ample opportunity to show all the foreign money Trump is gulping down that she refuses to examine.