LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – ActBlue, the Democratic fundraising powerhouse already under scrutiny from the Trump administration over allegations involving fraudulent and foreign donations, now finds itself facing fresh questions in Michigan.
The latest eyebrow-raising claims come from a report by Michigan Enjoyer journalist Charlie LeDuff who is a Pulitzer Prize winner and former Detroit News and New York Times reporter.
The controversy centers on donations to Democratic candidates, including Abdul El-Sayed’s campaign. LeDuff’s investigation found federal campaign finance records showing an unusual pattern of donations allegedly linked to 88-year-old Michigan resident Elizabeth Waffle. According to the report, more than $150,000 in contributions were attributed to Waffle, who lives in a trailer and said she could not have made donations anywhere near that amount.
“One hundred and fifty thousand?” Waffle asked LeDuff. “Hell no. I don’t have that kind of money.”
Waffle also said she’s contributed to El-Sayed’s campaign but not 47 times as reported by ActBlue in the federal filings.
The allegations are particularly notable because fundraising is a central part of El-Sayed’s campaign message. LeDuff reports that El-Sayed’s campaign has been bragging that he’s the top Michigan fundraiser off the ActBlue platform, having raised 10 times the money from small-dollar donors than his primary opponent, Haley Stevens.
Coincidence… or something else?
According to LeDuff’s research, Waffle was credited with making more than 14,696 separate political donations. Yet during his interview with her, she couldn’t even get online to demonstrate how she supposedly made those contributions because her internet service was so unreliable.
LeDuff’s headline for his article reads “Is El-Sayed’s Campaign Funded by Elderly Fake Donors?” suggesting that the elderly are an easy target in possible campaign finance fraud by the Democrat- aligned fundraising platform.
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He’s not alone in asking a question like that.
Connecticut investigation raises similar questions.
A similar investigation in Connecticut by Inside Investigator uncovered what it described as a pattern of suspicious ActBlue donations attributed to elderly and retired residents. Cybersecurity expert and former Connecticut secretary of state candidate Dominic Rapini identified roughly $2 million in ActBlue donations allegedly made in the names of 18 mostly elderly residents, with several signing affidavits stating the Federal Election Commission records did not match the donations they actually made.
The investigation also found unusual spikes in donation frequency, with some retirees allegedly making thousands of small-dollar contributions to hundreds of different campaigns and political committees – patterns investigators argue warrant closer scrutiny.
On the hot seat.
During scrutiny at a June 10 congressional hearing, ActBlue President and CEO Regina Wallace- Jones repeatedly invoked her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination rather than answer lawmakers’ questions about the platform’s fraud safeguards and handling of potentially illegal foreign donations.
Invoking the Fifth has done little to quiet the controversy though. While ActBlue has denied wrongdoing, Republicans in Congress, several state officials, and the Trump administration have continued examining the platform’s fraud-prevention practices.
Smoke… or fire?
Whether Waffle’s reported donations stem from clerical errors, software glitches, identity theft, reporting anomalies, or intentional voter fraud may never be known. But when the same fundraising platform keeps surfacing in investigations, congressional inquiries, and now questions surrounding Michigan donor records, it begins to look less like a series of isolated incidents and more like an intentional pattern that deserves further investigation.
