House Administration Committee Chairman Bryan Steil voiced sharp frustration and disappointment Wednesday after ActBlue CEO Regina Wallace-Jones repeatedly invoked her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination during a high-stakes congressional hearing into the Democratic fundraising platform’s alleged facilitation of illegal foreign donations and deception of Congress.
Steil, who has doggedly pursued the investigation for years, called the CEO’s stonewalling a serious setback for transparency in America’s campaign finance system. Wallace-Jones declined to answer nearly every substantive question, even refusing to say how she preferred to be addressed.
“I view it as frustrating and disappointing because I think the American people deserve to get answers to exactly what’s going on at ActBlue,” Steil told Heartland Post Editor-in-Chief Dan O’Donnell on “The Dan O’Donnell Show” after the hearing Wednesday. “We have clear evidence that they are being deceitful, they’re hiding things, that they are lying to Congress.”
The hearing marked the latest chapter in a probe that intensified after Steil’s 2023 letter questioning ActBlue’s safeguards against foreign contributions. Wallace-Jones responded with assurances of “multilayered” screenings, but her own outside counsel later warned the organization that her statements were at best misleading and at worst outright lies to Congress; revelations detailed in an explosive April 2 New York Times exposé.
“They have seen a mass exodus of employees. Functionally, the entire legal team at ActBlue has departed. We know multiple compliance officials have departed ActBlue,” Steil said. “Something is clearly going on inside the fraud protocols at ActBlue.”
Investigators uncovered troubling internal practices, including instructions to process donations with fictitious names and a pre-2024 election decision to loosen fraud standards, allowing more suspicious transactions to flow through. At least nine documented fraud campaigns on the platform had international connections, according to a joint House report. Republicans likened the alleged tactics to “smurfing,” in which large illicit sums are broken into smaller donations routed through fabricated or unwitting donors.
“Even though Wallace-Jones refused to answer your questions today, does it seem as though they all know over there that the heat is on and they’re about to be busted in a very serious way?” O’Donnell asked.
“By the time she refused to even say what she prefers her name to be,” Steil said, “it was very clear she made a cognitive choice that she was going to engage in no dialogue with our committee.”
Rep. Barry Loudermilk opened his questioning of the ActBlue leader whether she preferred to be addressed as “Ms. Jones” or “Ms. Wallace-Jones,” she answered with “On the advice of my counsel, I respectfully decline to answer this question pursuant to my Fifth Amendment rights under the Constitution.”
Steil vowed to continue the fight using every congressional tool, including potential referrals to the Department of Justice and calls for ActBlue board members to testify.
“We’re going to use every tool in our toolkit at the Committee to ultimately elicit the answers,” he said.
Previous depositions of former ActBlue employees saw them plead the Fifth more than 140 times combined. Steil’s committee plans further action as the investigation presses on, potentially leading to legislative reforms or criminal referrals.
