Unwitting straw donors may have funneled donations from China, Russia and Iran to Democrats: House panel

The Republican-led House Administration Committee has found evidence that illegal donations from China, Russia, Iran and Venezuela may have been laundered to Democratic campaigns through the party’s online fundraising juggernaut ActBlue. - Josh Christenson and Miranda Devine

“This failure to verify donor identity may have allowed foreign actors to fraudulently participate in the political process.”

• ActBlue has already admitted to the committee that until recently it did not require donors to provide the card verification code (“CVV”) associated with credit or debit cards when making an online contribution — making it easy to contribute without having to confirm one’s identity.

Steil said his committee has petitioned the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to “initiate an emergency rulemaking process” to redress this...