Democrats built their entire fundraising machine on a platform that let foreign money flow straight into American elections.
This week, Congress finally got the man who built that machine into a closed-door hearing room.
His answer to Congress lasted 25 minutes and told investigators exactly what they needed to know.
How ActBlue Spent 20 Years Building a Fundraising Machine With No Fraud Controls
Matt DeBergalis walked into a closed-door congressional hearing T, invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination over and over, and walked out 25 minutes later.
He created ActBlue in 2004 after a failed Boston city council run.
The pitch was simple: give Democrats an online fundraising tool that could outgun Republican direct mail.
It worked beyond anything he imagined.
ActBlue has moved roughly $20 billion into Democrat campaigns and left-wing causes since its founding.
And now three House committees – the House Administration Committee, the House Judiciary Committee, and the House Oversight Committee – want to know exactly who sent that money.
Chairman Bryan Steil of Wisconsin told Fox News ahead of the deposition that the core question still has no answer: "It's unclear how serious ActBlue is now taking fraud. We know that they weakened their fraud standards previously. Did they make the changes that are needed to root out foreign funds from coming into U.S. elections?"
The deposition answered nothing.
The $38 Million in Foreign Donations ActBlue Refuses to Explain
DeBergalis isn't the first ActBlue official to go quiet in front of Congress.
ActBlue CEO Regina Wallace-Jones invoked the Fifth at a public House Administration Committee hearing in June.
House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan put the central question directly to her before she stopped talking: "Your board chairman said ActBlue accepted up to $38 million in contributions in 2024 that had the signs of foreign origin. How much fraud is too much fraud?"
Wallace-Jones declined to answer.
Five other current and former ActBlue employees had already appeared before congressional depositions – and collectively invoked the Fifth Amendment 146 times.
Nobody is talking.
A congressional report released in April 2025 documented what investigators found when they dug into ActBlue's internal records.
ActBlue's files recorded 237 donations tied to foreign IP addresses and domestic prepaid cards during a single month in late 2024 – a combination investigators flagged as a telltale sign of fraud.
The report concluded that "ActBlue executives and staff are aware that both foreign and domestic fraudulent actors are exploiting the platform but do not take the threat seriously."
In 2024, ActBlue changed its fraud-prevention rules twice – both times to make them "more lenient."
Internal documents showed the platform was training fraud-prevention employees to "look for reasons to accept contributions" – and ignore the red flags.
By March 2025, every lawyer on ActBlue's legal and compliance team had quit, been fired, or gone on leave – at least one citing the company's refusal to address the legal exposure from illegal foreign contributions.
How Foreign Money From Six Countries Is Still Flowing Into Democrat Campaigns Before the 2026 Midterms
Congressional investigators have identified money originating from Brazil, Colombia, India, Iraq, the Philippines, and Saudi Arabia flowing through the platform.
The investigation has documented at least 22 significant fraud campaigns inside ActBlue's system – and nearly half had direct ties to foreign actors.
The Justice Department is also investigating, following a Trump memorandum directing the Attorney General to examine whether online fundraising platforms were used to launder illegal foreign and straw donations into American campaigns.
"I think the American people also have a right to know exactly what's taking place on this platform that has raised roughly $20 billion for Democratic candidates and liberal causes since its creation," Steil told Fox News.
Americans get silence.
Every senior ActBlue official who has sat before Congress has done the same thing: invoked the Fifth.
DeBergalis is the sixth.
The 2026 midterms are fewer than three months away.
Democrats running in those races are still processing donations through the same platform their own co-founder just refused to answer questions about under oath.
Sources:
- Liz Elkind and Tyler Olson, "ActBlue co-founder Matt DeBergalis pleads Fifth in House deposition," Fox News, August 20, 2026.
- Gretchen Ehlke, "Another Top ActBlue Official Pleads the 5th Amid Congressional Investigation," The Daily Signal, August 20, 2026.
- "New Report Reveals Illicit Foreign Donations and Mass Resignations at ActBlue," House Judiciary Committee Republicans, April 20, 2026.
- "Fraud on ActBlue: New Report Details Potential Illegal Activity on the Democrat Platform," House Judiciary Committee Republicans, April 2, 2025.
- "Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Investigates Unlawful 'Straw Donor' and Foreign Contributions in American Elections," The White House, April 24, 2025.
- "ActBlue cofounder pleads the Fifth during House deposition," Washington Examiner, August 20, 2026.
- Teri Christoph, "The Democrats' ActBlue Scandal Just Went From Bad to Worse," RedState, August 20, 2026.