Overview
- A Thursday report by the New York Times detailed early‑2025 memos from Covington & Burling warning that ActBlue, the Democratic small‑donor platform, risked having its 2023 assurances to Congress judged as misleading.
- The memos cited gaps in checks for donations routed through Apple Pay, PayPal, and Venmo, where promised passport verification for contributors with foreign addresses was not consistently applied, though they did not identify specific illegal transfers.
- The internal warnings triggered fallout in early 2025 as several senior officials resigned and ActBlue ended its relationship with Covington after a tense exchange over potential legal exposure for CEO Regina Wallace‑Jones.
- ActBlue says its 2023 letter was accurate in context, notes that less than 1% of 2024-cycle contributions showed foreign indicators, and told Congress in June 2025 it had added automatic blocks for donations with signs of foreign origin, including those from third‑party processors.
- Federal and House investigations remain underway, and Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said late Thursday the matter is a Justice Department priority.