The head of the Democratic fundraising engine ActBlue repeatedly invoked the Fifth Amendment during a congressional hearing Wednesday where Republicans pressed her on the platform’s process for vetting foreign donations.
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ActBlue CEO and President Regina Wallace-Jones declined to answer any questions during the tense hour-long hearing. She invoked her constitutional right against self-incrimination 21 times as Republicans asked about whether she knew of ActBlue accepting illegal donations without proper verification.
Before the hearing, Wallace-Jones said publicly that she would invoke the amendment because it was the “only reasonable response” to a GOP-led interrogation that she described as “harassing a political opponent’s fundraising platform, not genuine oversight.” She wrote about her decision in an essay published in The Washington Post’s opinion section. (The Post newsroom and opinion section are separate, independent entities.)
Wednesday’s standoff was the latest phase in a years-long battle between the GOP and the group that processes billions of donations to Democratic candidates.
Rep. Bryan Steil (R-Wisconsin), chairman of the House Administration Committee that held the hearing, in 2023 sent a letter to Wallace-Jones asking how the platform verifies donations. Wallace-Jones responded a month later and outlined ActBlue’s steps for preventing fraudulent donations. In April, the New York Times reported that ActBlue’s lawyers warned that it might have been misleading, triggering new pressure from the GOP.
ActBlue has denied wrongdoing in the investigation.
ActBlue is also facing a Justice Department probe and a lawsuit from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R). House Republicans asked Wallace-Jones in April to testify before a committee.
At first, Wallace-Jones voluntarily agreed to testify, Steil said. But her legal team and Steil’s committee disagreed over the scope of the questions she would be asked. Wallace-Jones’s lawyers argued that House Republicans should not ask questions that would require her to compromise attorney-client privilege.
After using a subpoena to force Wallace-Jones to appear, Republicans did not get any illuminating answers.
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Wallace-Jones gave an iteration of one answer to every question: “On the advice of my counsel, I respectfully decline to answer this question pursuant to my Fifth Amendment rights under the Constitution.”
Steil and other Republican committee members grew frustrated as they posed questions.
“So now you’re following the advice of your legal counsel, but you didn’t when they warned you that your letter to me was false and misleading,” Steil said after the third time Wallace-Jones invoked her rights.
Democrats used the hearing to frame the ActBlue investigation as politically motivated and argue that federal lawmakers would similarly probe the Republican Party’s donation processor, WinRed, if they cared about fraud.
They alleged that WinRed probably does not robustly vet all donors and has accepted donations improperly. WinRed, which has faced legal challenges in the past, has previously said the accusations against it are false and politically motivated.
Rep. Joe Morelle (D-New York), a member of the committee, said his GOP colleagues would not go after WinRed because the apparatus benefits the president, his allies and the candidates in his party.
“Republicans won’t investigate the clear pattern of fraud and criminality on WinRed precisely because the fraud benefits Donald Trump,” Morelle said.
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