U.S. Intelligence officials are “clueless,” about a alleged money laundering scheme for Democrat candidates, which is now being sued and will be the subject of subpoenas from lawmakers.

The Wisconsin Republicans raised alarms for the last two years about “smurfing”, through actBlue. This online donation platform was used by Democrats to raise millions of dollars in support of Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign. In a recent article in The Daily Caller Johnson noted that the practice involves hundreds or even thousands of small donations being made without the consent of the donors. Some believe the money comes from wealthy foreigners looking to influence U.S. election results, especially in next month’s Presidential Election.

As Just the News first reported, Wisconsin conservative strategist Mark Block, who claims he’s a victim of the alleged scheme, names ActBlue in a recent racketeering lawsuit charging that unnamed participants have violated the Wisconsin Organized Control Act.

‘Donations’

Johnson, along with fellow Badger State Republican Rep. Bryan Steil, sent letter to the U.S. Treasury Department and Director of National Intelligence, requesting a classified report on “potential foreign interference in elections through fraudulent donations.”

Steil and Johnson, the chairman and ranking member respectively of the House Administration Committee (HAC) as well as the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations requested Reports of Suspicious Activities in relation to ActBlue. The three agencies were also asked to provide a classified briefing on this issue.

Steil’s Committee has investigated claims “foreign agents, mostly from Iran, Russia and Venezuela, could be using ActBlue as a way to launder money illegally into U.S. campaign funds.” The letter says that our investigation revealed these foreign actors could be exploiting U.S. donors who are already giving money to campaigns by making false donations.

According to the letter, investigations revealed evidence that “points to” illegal contributions broken down into smaller amounts in order to circumvent legal contribution limitations. Steil warned against the misuse of gift, debit and prepaid cards in the name of genuine donors to make “straw donations” that were virtually undetectable.

A Blind Eye

Johnson stated that so far there has been radio silence.

The senator said in an interview with The Federalist on Wednesday that “we haven’t received a single word” from the agencies. The senator is not optimistic that the committees’ inquiries will be answered by the agencies who worked feverishly to discredit the Hunter Biden story about the laptop days before 2020 elections as “Russian influence” — an actual disinformation campaign.

Johnson stated that he wrote the Federal Election Commission in April 2023 about his concerns following an O’Keefe Media Group Video tracing alleged incidents of Smurfing. Johnson said that the FEC refused to confirm whether or not it was investigating the allegations of campaign finance laws violations.

The senator stated, “I hear they do not have the capability to investigate.” These federal agencies turn a blind eye to violations that I believe are clear and obvious of the campaign finance laws.

Johnson wrote in a recent Daily Caller opinion piece that intelligence directors seemed oblivious to the increasing number of red-flags surrounding the suspicious mass donations made through ActBlue. Senator Johnson noted that a “Classified Briefing for All Members on Foreign Threats To U.S. Elections”, led by Avril Haines, Director of National Intelligence and FBI Director Christopher Wray in September was attended by Avril, Director of National Intelligence.

Johnson said that the presentation “did not mention the most serious threats to election integrity in 2024 or the most outrageous examples of electoral interference during our lifetime.” The FBI’s Wray, he said, “seemed clueless,” on the ActBlue matter “and did not know if the FBI is doing anything about it.”

Pattern of Racketeering Activities

Mark Block who was the chief of staff to 2012 GOP Presidential candidate Herman Cain filed a ‘bombshell lawsuit for racketeering’ at Wisconsin’s Waukesha Circuit Court, according to New York Post Columnist Miranda Devine.

Block claims that the information he provided was used “fraudulently” in order to send 385 donations totaling more than $884, 35 of them to Harris Victory Fund. According to the lawsuit, these contributions, which average $3.24 each, fall under a loophole in federal election laws that does not require campaign donors to provide a breakdown of their donations when they total less than $200.

The complaint filed in Block against John Doe states that “Campaigns who receive donations below $200 may simply group the contributions into a single list without itemizing them.”

In just one day after Harris replaced President Joe Biden to become the Democratic Party presidential candidate, raised $81,000,000 from nearly 890,000. The campaign had 310 million dollars in donations by the end of this month. This is a record for both daily and weekly donations. Block questions the claim that the “energy and enthusiasm of grassroots activists” was the driving force behind the huge haul.

Block claims in his lawsuit that ActBlue sent receipts for donations made to him at an old email address. Block alleges that ActBlue claimed donations were made under the pseudonym “Bernie Cain”, which he previously used. Block claims that he did not “authorize or consent” to the donations made to candidates on the left. The conservative includes a list of all the ActBlue contributions that were allegedly made with his personal data.

The complaint says that “of these donations, 86 have been initiated as one time donations, while 234 are set up to be recurring donations on a weekly or monthly basis.” Block says he has no connection to the credit card that was used and never gave his permission for it to be used. The donations are listed as coming from a UPS box in Santa Monica.

In the complaint, multiple felonies are alleged including identity theft and fraudulent use of personal information. According to the lawsuit, the accused perpetrators violated Wisconsin Organized Crime Control Act by meeting “patterns of racketeering activities” and the requirements for “enterprises” under the statute.

The complaint states that “by making these false donations, John Doe acted in concert with ActBlue to achieve a shared goal, namely funding Democratic campaigns, and organisations, in order to promote left-leaning policy.” It also seeks damages and an injunction.

I’m Definitely Going to Follow This.

Attorneys General in Texas Virginia Wyoming and elsewhere are concerned about foreigners or other bad actors using the channel to influence U.S. election.

Johnson and Steil point out in their letter addressed to the heads of intelligence that the House Administration Committee sent an email to ActBlue a year prior asking for information on how it blocks foreign contributions. ActBlue admitted that they did not ask contributors for their CVV code when contributing online to a Democrat’s campaign. This lapse which ActBlue claims it has corrected “may have allowed for foreign actors to participate fraudulently in the U.S. political process.”

The lawmakers found that a data analysis by the House Administration Committee, which compared more than 200,000,000 FEC donations with information on party affiliation and age, revealed “several mismatches and anomalies in the FEC’s records,” suggesting foreign entities could be using this tactic to influence U.S. election results.

Steil has introduced the official told The Hill that “[W]e know of recent efforts to spread misinformation regarding our platform.”

Johnson stated that while Biden and Harris administration officials in the intelligence department may block congressional investigations, this will change when former President Donald Trump is re-elected to the White House.