Former New Jersey Superior Court Judge Andrew Napolitano told Newsmax on Monday that allegations ActBlue, a Democrat PAC, has violated federal campaign finance rules is the "grandaddy" of all campaign finance violations, and that it will come to a head on the state level.
Rep. Bryan Steil, R-Wis., chair of the House Administration Committee, on Monday sent a letter to Federal Elections Commission Chair Sean Cooksey and Vice Chair Ellen Weintraub. The letter asks the agency to "immediately initiate an emergency rulemaking to require political campaigns to verify the card verification value of donors who contribute online using a credit or debit card, and to prohibit political campaigns from accepting online contributions from a gift card or other prepaid credit cards."
The committee accused ActBlue in a news release of laundering foreign contributions through prepaid gift cards and U.S. credit and debit cardholders; using prepaid gift cards and credit cards as a vehicle without knowledge of the owner to launder campaign contributions that would violate federal campaign finance law; receiving a significant number of donations from individuals who are retired and live on a fixed income; patterns of hundreds of donations for $2.50 from the same individual; and a sudden appearance of very large donations from individuals who have previously donated much smaller amounts.
State attorneys general from Virginia, Wyoming, and Missouri are conducting similar investigations into ActBlue.
"There's no limit to the creativity of politicians to avoid reporting regulations when it comes to a political campaign contribution," Napolitano told "Carl Higbie FRONTLINE." "This may be the granddaddy of them all, and because it happened in a number of states, it doesn't matter if the FEC, the Federal Elections Commission, won't move, and who knows if they will.
"State attorneys general soon will move, and you'll see investigation after investigation and people involved turning state's evidence, I predict, and reporting on their colleagues, which will help bring this to a head."
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Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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