'Power-mad dictator': Critics pounce on Trump after he orders investigation of Act Blue
Category: News & Politics
Via: john-russell • 2 days ago • 13 commentsBy: Jake Johnson (Alternet. org)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
(Reuters)
U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday launched his latest attack on political opponents by directing the Justice Department to investigate ActBlue, a critical fundraising platform for Democrats and progressive organizations.
The order came in the form of a memorandum that the president signed shortly before heading to his Virginia golf course for a $1 million-per-plate fundraiser for MAGA Inc., a pro-Trump super PAC that has been accused of receiving illegal straw-donor contributions.
In his memorandum, Trump raised "concerns" about straw donations—when a donor makes a contribution through another person or entity—and directed U.S. 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 all appropriate actions to enforce the law."
Trump's memorandum cites a recent report from House Republicans accusing ActBlue of "a lack of commitment to stopping fraud." ActBlue and House Democrats rejected the GOP findings at the time, calling the document "less of a report and more of a desperate effort to change the subject."
"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."
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, said Thursday that Trump's broadside against ActBlue marks a similar attempt to divert attention from the president's own corruption.
"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," Raskin said in a statement.
"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," he continued. "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."
Since its inception in 2004, ActBlue has raised nearly $17 billion through its platform, and it is widely used by Democratic candidates and progressive groups, including organizations critical of the Democratic leadership such as Justice Democrats. (Common Dreams is among the organizations that use ActBlue to process donations.)
According to ActBlue, nearly 15 million Democratic donors have saved their payment information on the platform.
In a statement, ActBlue said that "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."
"ActBlue will immediately pursue all legal avenues to protect and defend itself," the organization added.
Ken Martin, chair of the Democratic National Committee, called Trump's investigation order "authoritarianism in action." In a joint statement, Martin and the heads of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and Democratic Governors Association said that "Trump's memorandum targeting ActBlue is designed to undermine democratic participation—and it's no wonder why."
"He knows Americans are already fed up with his chaotic agenda that is driving the economy off a cliff, so 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," the Democratic leaders said. "As Democrats, we're unified in standing with the millions of Americans who are fighting back against Trump's dangerous abuses of power."
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Heil Trump !
I'll see your musk, and raise you a dumbass, wet behind the ears, punk............
It goes along great with the Democrat/leftist lawfare and kangaroo courts.
Tin horn dictators everywhere are in envy of what Democrats have achieved.
How can anyone object to an investigation of ACTBlue given the documented proof of foreigners using it to donate and other allegations of fraud? I guess election integrity isn't something alter-net Democrats are going to pretend to care about today. Seems like only yesterday foreign involvement in an election was the worst thing to ever happen to democracy.
LOL
The same people objecting to an investigation of ACTBlue are the same people crying that Musk is finding fraud everywhere. They're afraid of losing their kickbacks and slush funds.
I think we should investigate ALL non-profits involved in election campaigns every year. Penalties should be criminal, not civil. We should have a truly independent body of people that can't be influenced by, fired by or otherwise hindered by politicians in the pursuit of ethics. They should have the power to investigate and litigate in a federal court. I don't care if it's Florida Hope and ACTBlue.
The issue here is not if all political fundraising operations should be watch-dogged. The issue is the laughability of Trump, the most corrupt president in US history, being the one ordering investigations.
Nothing sinister about an "investigation" Lots of nefarious and illegal actions by the Biden administration and its flunkies need to be investigated
I'm sure you can name them? I mean... 2 Congressional House committees couldn't find anything, but you have all the proof, right?
The order came in the form of a memorandum that the president signed shortly before heading to his Virginia golf course for a $1 million-per-plate fundraiser for MAGA Inc., a pro-Trump super PAC that has been accused of receiving illegal straw-donor contributions.
File this under shit so fucking backwards that you can’t even make it up.
Hopefully it will open the doors to investigating Republican fundraising counterparts like WinRed? Or the many Republican PAC's and SuperPAC's?
Ironic that Republicans and Trump repeatedly backed George Santos who was sentenced to 7 years in prison for fraud. He took Campaign donations and transferred the money to his own accounts and spent wildly.
Trump just pardoned a woman in Nevada who did the same thing!!
How long until Trump pardons Santos?
Fraud is Trump's holy grail, he is only going after one campaign donation processor as a deflection of wrong doing by Republicans.