Senior ActBlue employees refused to answer a single question posed to them by a congressional panel in 2025, choosing to invoke their constitutional right to avoid self-incrimination 146 times, according to an interim staff report recently released by three House committees.
ActBlue, a massive Democratic fundraising platform, faces accusations from House Republicans that its lax security measures enabled prohibited parties, such as foreign donors, to make contributions to U.S. electoral campaigns. These allegations returned to the spotlight earlier this month when the New York Times reported that the liberal payment processor’s own lawyers stated in internal memos that ActBlue may have misled Congress about the strength of its security protocols.
At the time, ActBlue assured Congress that it had rigorous measures in place to prevent prohibited donations. Its lawyers, however, stated in internal memos obtained by the New York Times that nonresident foreign nationals could have used third-party payment platforms to get around its safeguards and make donations — possibly contradicting the firm’s statements to Congress.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who has since sued ActBlue, claims that staffers in his office deliberately used ActBlue to make prohibited donations in an effort to demonstrate its weaknesses.
In connection with these allegations, congressional Republicans deposed one unnamed senior ActBlue staffer who managed the payment processor’s fraud prevention efforts, former general counsel Darrin Hurwitz, former associate general counsel Aaron Ting, former legal counsel Zain Ahmad, and Alyssa Twomey, ActBlue’s former vice president of customer service.
None of them answered the questions posed by lawmakers.
“Their unwillingness to testify only amplifies the Committees’ concerns,” the congressional report reads. “The crux of this misconduct is simple: ActBlue appears to have accepted illegal foreign donations en masse and tried to cover it up, lying to and withholding information from Congress in the process.”
ActBlue has strongly denied any wrongdoing, legal or otherwise.
“The Fifth Amendment is one of America’s most foundational constitutional rights,” a spokesperson for the payment processor said in response to the interim staff report. “ActBlue employees who invoked their rights in the face of a partisan investigation are doing exactly what the founders intended. If we allow Republicans to trample on our protected rights, it will only empower them to attack more organizations and individuals they disagree with.”
The five employees all declined to answer questions regarding things as simple as when they worked at ActBlue or what they did during their tenure.
Additionally, the staffers refused to answer questions regarding whether ActBlue took a more lenient approach to fraud in 2024, if the firm instructed employees to allow fraudulent donations to go through, whether they were part of a conspiracy to launder foreign funds for the Democratic Party, if they were aware of identity fraud on their platform, and whether the mass resignations at ActBlue were related to fraud investigations.
CONGRESS MULLS COMPELLING TESTIMONY FROM ACTBLUE LEADERSHIP
In each case, the deposed staffer gave the same response.
“On the advice of counsel, I must respectfully decline to answer based upon the attorney-client privilege and in reliance on my right under the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution,” they said. “I must follow my lawyer’s advice in this matter.”