Trump targets Democratic fundraising

25/4/2025 6:25

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.



The memo, which Trump signed Thursday afternoon, directs

Attorney General Pam 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," according to a

White House statement.



The memo directs Bondi to report the results of the probe to

Trump. It cites a congressional investigation that "revealed

significant fraud schemes using ActBlue" as well as a 30-day

period during the 2024 election in which donations from foreign

IP addresses using prepaid cards were detected.



A spokesperson for the Democratic National Committee did not

respond immediately to a request for comment.



Trump, who maintains his false claims that the 2020

presidential election was fraudulent, has sought to use his

authority to align U.S. election practices with his world view.

In March he signed an executive order that would require voters

to prove they are U.S. citizens. The order also attempts to

prevent states from counting mail-in ballots after Election Day.



A U.S. judge on Thursday blocked parts of that order, which

Democrats and other groups have said risked denying eligible

citizens the right to vote.



The White House alleged in its statement on Thursday that

online fundraising platforms were being used to "launder

excessive and prohibited contributions to political candidates

and committees." It accused unspecified "bad actors" of seeking

to evade donation limits by splitting large contributions into

several smaller ones and attributing them to people without

their consent.



"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.