Far-left outspoken Texas Democratic Rep. Jasmine Crockett could find herself in hot water with the Federal Election Commission.
An investigation has been launched into her campaign finances, which were raised via the controversial Democratic fundraising platform ActBlue, after a complaint was filed by The Coolidge-Reagan Foundation, a conservative watchdog group, The Daily Signal reported.
“The respondents will be notified of this complaint within five business days,” FEC assistant general counsel for complaints examination and legal administration Wanda D. Brown said to the group.
“You will be notified as soon as the Federal Election Commission (FEC) takes final action on your client’s complaint. Should you receive any additional information in this matter, please forward it to the Office of the General Counsel,” she said.
“The FEC opened an investigation. There is a process, but they are investigating,” Dan Backer, a Washington lawyer representing the Coolidge-Reagan Foundation, told the outlet.
The investigation relates to 53 separate donations for a total of $595 to Crockett’s campaign through ActBlue supposedly given by a 73-year-old Texas resident named Randy Best, the FEC complaint said.
But in a video shared by one of Crockett’s opponents, Sholdon Daniels, Best’s wife said that she did not know about the donations, which has led to speculation that they could be fraudulent.
“Rep. Crockett, through her principal campaign committee Respondent Jasmine for US, has received thousands of other donations through ActBlue totaling over $870,000,” the complaint said. “It is unclear how many of these are similarly fraudulent transactions, made in the name of unsuspecting innocent people who did not actually provide the funds.”
ActBlue has come under fire before with accusations of laundering foreign campaign contributions.
“Democratic fundraising platform ActBlue may have raked in millions through fraudulent donations, according to the testimonies of elderly Americans who said federal election records do not reflect their giving,” The Signal reported in January.
“Eighteen registered Democrats in Connecticut, all over the age of 70, appear to have donated $1.9 million to Democratic causes, including ActBlue, through hundreds of thousands of small donations from 2016 to 2024, according to a review of Federal Election Commission filings by Dominic Rapini, cybersecurity company CEO and a former Connecticut Republican candidate for office,” it said.
“When I examine the donation patterns tied to these alleged ‘smurfs,’ the irregularities jump off the page, revealing behavior that defies both human logic and common sense,” Rapini said to The Daily Signal. “To safeguard trust in our election process, we must confront these anomalies head-on.”
Wisconsin Republican Rep. Bryan Steil, the chairman of the House Administration Committee, said that he is aware of similar reports nationwide.
“In response, last fall, I shared the findings of our investigation with several state attorneys general,” he told The Signal. “The committee and I remain fully available to collaborate with any state law enforcement officials who wish to access the information we have gathered on this critical issue.”
“I can promise you I have NOT made donations myself to the [Democratic National Committee] or Democratic local party since 2016 … ,” one elderly woman reportedly said. “Anything past that are fake and/or manipulated donations.”
Another woman, who is 91 years old, is listed as having made 2,591 donations for a total of $41,000, according to FEC filings.
But that woman signed an affidavit with Rapini, in which she denied making any donations.
A post on the ActBlue website assures donors that the platform is secure and meets “ethical standards.”
“ActBlue is proud to serve as a trusted platform that empowers small-dollar donors to legally and securely contribute to political candidates, political action committees, and other political and nonpartisan, nonprofit organizations. Our robust security program and strict fraud prevention measures help us rigorously protect donors’ information, root out potentially unlawful foreign contributions, protect donors from financial fraud, and flag other potentially unlawful or fraudulent activity. As a result, donors, candidates, and organizations can feel confident that their information is safe and our platform is secure,” the post said.
