Rep. Bryan Steil raises concerns about people being 'unwitting straw donors' to ActBlue

Congressman Bryan Steil, R-Wis., on Wednesday raised concerns about individuals being "unwitting straw donors" to Democratic nonprofit ActBlue.

"The great concern is that people would be unwitting straw donors, meaning an individual is simply typing in their information and then using a financial payment not associated with that individual," Steil said on the "John Solomon Reports" podcast. 

Steil, who chairs the House Administration Committee, uncovered a suspicious pattern of donations from individuals with net worths too small to donate what has been credited to them via ActBlue reports to the Federal Election Commission.

“This investigation focused on potential unlawful exploitation of unwitting ‘straw donors,’ whose identities may have been used to  channel illicit funds into campaigns in your state,” Steil wrote to top law enforcement officials in five states.

“The final analysis produced a set of anomalous donor profiles, ranked by the severity of the inconsistencies. In reviewing this analysis, it became clear there is suspicious activity occurring that warrants further review,” he added.

Steil's letters stop short of accusing any group or individual of breaking the law but rather refer evidence to the attorneys generals of patterns they say resembles illegal conduct. The letters included records of thousands of donations that the committee believed looked suspicious in each state.

"If an individual had their credit card stolen and donations are being made through their credit card, most people would catch that pretty quickly, because they'd review their credit card at the end of the month and say, 'these thousands of dollars I never did,'" Steil said on the podcast. "The concern that I've identified is someone making donations in your name to Democrats across the country, but then paying it with their money. That's money laundering."