Republican Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson is demanding answers from the Federal Election Commission (FEC) over an allegedly fraudulent fundraising scheme for Democratic political campaigns, according to a Monday letter exclusively provided to the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Johnson’s inquiry followed recent revelations from O’Keefe Media Group (OMG) that alleged a money laundering scheme is taking place via ActBlue, a Democratic fundraising nonprofit, into political campaigns, according to a March 28 video report. The senator’s letter is demanding clarification on OMG’s findings, which detail donations made to political campaigns without donors’ knowledge, following a series of other requests of the FEC that were not met.
“I am disappointed that the FEC is refusing to provide transparency about its awareness of potential misconduct regarding political donations,” Johnson stated in the letter. “It is important for the FEC to be forthcoming with Congress and the public in order to maintain confidence in the FEC’s abilities to address potential wrongdoing. With this in mind, I request the FEC provide a full explanation related to the allegations contained in the March 28, 2023 video.”
ActBlue has raised over $11 billion for Democratic political campaigns, left-leaning organizations and other nonprofits, according to its website. The nonprofit has assisted the campaigns of Democratic California Rep. Adam Schiff and Democratic Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, as well as several pro-Biden groups.
OMG’s video showed founder James O’Keefe visiting the homes of donors listed in FEC data who reportedly made large donations “thousands of times per year” to political campaigns like President Joe Biden‘s, according to the video. O’Keefe confronted these individuals to confirm whether or not they made the payments, to which many appeared to say they did not.
One individual was listed as contributing over 31,000 times to ActBlue giving a total of roughly $230,000 since 2019, the video appears to show. The individual responded with, “no, that’s not us.”
“It appears somebody else may be committing a crime using your address,” O’Keefe told the individual.
The FEC initially agreed to Johnson’s staff request for a briefing on OMG’s findings, but pulled out once a date was set, according to the letter. The FEC offered to provide a letter explaining why they cancelled the briefing, but never followed through; Johnson’s staff requested a “status update” of the letter, to which they were told was still pending.
“FECA [Federal Election Campaign Act] requires the Commission to keep confidential any information about its enforcement activities until the enforcement matters are resolved and formally closed,” the FEC told Johnson. “Thus, the Commission is limited in the information it may reveal about its enforcement activities, including whether any complaints are pending about any particular allegation.”
The letter was sent on behalf of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, which is tasked with overseeing the effectiveness of federal agencies.
The FEC did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.
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