Exclusive: House speaker fears foreign powers laundering money to Democrats, warns adversaries

As a sprawling congressional investigation into online political fundraising expands, House Speaker Mike Johnson said Thursday he fears foreign adversaries such as China and Iran may be laundering money to Democrats this election, and he is vowing lawmakers will take punitive actions against overseas actors if the allegations are corroborated.

“This is a massive scandal,” Johnson told Just the News in an interview just days after House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer revealed to lawmakers in a confidential memo that the Treasury Department has confirmed it possesses hundreds of Suspicious Activity Reports (SAR's) for possible money laundering tied to the Democratic Party’s massive online fundraising platform known as ActBlue.

Comer, House Administration Committee Chairman Bryan Steil, Sen. Ron Johnson and 19 state attorneys general have been investigative whether the ActBlue platform is being abused by foreign actors to disguise illicit donations as coming from unwitting and possibly defrauded American citizens. 

Steil subpoenaed ActBlue on Wednesday for records, saying he has evidence suggesting China, Iran, Russia and Venezuela may be abusing the platform and questioning whether the Democrat fundraising juggernaut has placed adequate protections to prevent identity theft and fraudulent donations.

Johnson predicted Thursday that new information will be released that “very soon everyone will have to” cover as a news story.

"Massive operation"

“My theory is that they're taking money from foreign nationals, primarily Iran, Russia China, and Venezuela, and they're breaking down the donations into smaller gifts and making it look as though these are, you know, this is a wave of new donors, American people, that are doing this,” the Louisiana Republican said on the John Solomon Reports podcast. “And I don't think it's true."

Johnson acknowledged the probe is still in its early stages but that the subpoena was a major step forward. 

“These are all allegations," he said. "They'll be investigated and have to be proven."

You can listen to the full interview here.

Johnson said early evidence suggests there could be a “massive, massive operation” operating to move money from illicit sources to influence the 2024 election.

He recently used his social media account to provide Americans access to a website on which they can check to see whether their identity has been used unwittingly to make donations via ActBlue or other online fundraising platforms. He said lots of people have reported to him suspicious activity with their identities after checking the site.

“I've done this as an informal experiment with small groups that I've been in the last two weeks, and there are hits in every group I'm in,” he said. “I'm with lifelong Republicans, and they have no idea that their names and addresses are being used and assigned these supposedly small dollar donations.”

ActBlue, which boasts having raised $16 billion in small donations to left-wing causes since 2004, has broadly denied wrongdoing and says it is cooperating with the various probes.  

But at the same time, ActBlue has confirmed to Congress and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton it had not been using the CVV confirmation codes on credit cards to verify all donor identities before transactions were processed.

Possible punitive measures

Johnson said he fears liberal actors may be complicit in aiding in illicit fundraising from overseas or elsewhere. 

“I think somewhere at, you know, liberal High Command, they made the decision like, well, you know that the benefit outweighs the risk. We'll have a couple fall guys who will go to jail eventually. But you know, we'll have this avalanche of cash, and we'll make sure we win the election. They'll never be able to unwind the results,” he said. “I mean, it's very serious. It has huge implications for the country.”

Johnson said he was disappointed that senior intelligence community officials who interacted with Congress recently appeared to have no knowledge about the allegations or the existence of the Suspicious Activity Reports at the Treasury Department.

“If they ever made that available, I didn't know about it. Nobody brought it to my attention. We had to do it in reverse,” he said, explaining lawmakers led authorities to the existence of the SARs.

Johnson said if foreign money laundering into the U.S. political system is corroborated, he expects Congress will take strong punitive actions against countries that are involved.

“I think there'll be a big appetite for that, and I would hope that would be bipartisan, you know? I mean, this has serious implications for the country, and we've got to ensure free and fair elections, obviously, is a top priority,” he said. “I do think we've got to contend with these foreign adversaries and make it serious.