As the House control hangs in the balance in Tuesday's elections, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., expressed hope on Newsmax that Republicans can overcome a large disparity of campaign cash largely funded by ActBlue and potential illegal "money-laundering operations."
"The Democrats, they have outraised us this cycle, but we now know that some of that is not lawful," Johnson told Tom Basile in an interview that aired Saturday. "ActBlue, which is their online fundraising juggernaut for low-dollar donors. There are lots of stories circulating now about fraud that's been happening there.
"There's evidence being gathered that apparently they're taking large checks, possibly from people in other countries or adversarial nations, and they're breaking it down into smaller dollar donations and sending it through that, almost like a money-laundering operation. That's the allegation. So and there is an investigation that's underway."
Even the FBI is investigating, but that too is under the Executive branch, so the White House has final say on how far the digging will go in the next presidential term, Johnson warned.
"It's very serious: It goes to the heart of the integrity of our election system, and so that's a great concern to everybody," Johnson continued. "Our House Administration Committee has an investigation ongoing, but so does the FBI and law enforcement agencies. So I think at the end of the day, there will be accountability for that."
Before that investigation concludes, though, Johnson is stressing Republicans have to overcome the large fundraising cash disparity Tuesday.
"But what I have to contend with between now and the time that's adjudicated is the avalanche of cash that they've gathered, probably in nefarious ways, maybe unlawful ways," Johnson told Basile. "And so we're having to contend with that.
"At the end of the day, the good news for us is that it's not ultimately about the quantity of cash in these races. It's about the quality of the candidates. And we have extraordinary candidates and they're running very credible races. And I think for that reason, we're going to perform very well on Election Day."
Johnson might potentially face a challenge to remain House speaker even if Republican retain the slim majority, but he noted he is helping break records on fundraising for the GOP despite being an unprecedented replacement speaker in the middle of a House term.
"We've been working really hard at it," Johnson said. "I did something that's been unprecedented in Congress, and that is becoming speaker in the middle of a Congress of a session, so there's no playbook for how to do this. And because I had never been one of the top two officers in the in the House on our side, I really had to start from scratch and building relationships with some of the top level donors in the country.
"But I'm grateful and blessed that it's gone very well. And we've been breaking records here toward the end. We broke the third-quarter fundraising record of all time for a speaker and not only my individual efforts, but also in the speaker's endorsed super PAC.
"So when they add it all up, we're somewhere close to $270 million raised since I got the gavel last October. And that's been a big feat."
It is not just the cash total, but how you use it, Johnson concluded, suggesting Democrats might be hamstrung by waste, fraud, and abuse from the alleged "money-laundering operation" of ActBlue.
"I think it's very important we're using the funding very responsibly," Johnson said. "As good stewards, I think we spend our money more efficiently and effectively than the other team does.
"We feel very bullish about our prospects of not only winning the White House and the Senate, but growing the House majority. So I believe all that hard work is going to pay off, and we're looking forward to that."
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