Democrat money laundering operation helped to steal a Senate seat from MAGA Kari Lake.
arizonasuntimes.com
Some election integrity researchers are expanding their investigation of politicians who benefitted from questionable “Smurfing” campaign contributions and discovered that Senator Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) received many of them. Smurfing refers to using straw donors to make campaign contributions; usually, elderly and unemployed people are unaware their identities are being used for money laundering. Many contributions are made under one name, sometimes thousands of them, and they are usually small amounts, often around $10 each, to escape detection.
The Smurfing appears to be usually run through ActBlue, the Democrats’ fundraising platform, although it has also been spotted on the Republican side in recent years through their WinRed fundraising platform.
Experts say they believe Democratic operatives are conducting the Smurfing to hide illegal donations from foreigners, corporations, unions, or individuals who have exceeded contribution limits. Investigative journalist James O’Keefe took videos of himself talking to some of the Smurfs, mostly elderly and retired people of modest means who admitted they did not know about the large numbers of campaign contributions in their names.
Massachusetts donors gave Gallego more than twice as much money as Arizonans did last March. The $8 million from Massachusetts donors came through ActBlue, with Gallego receiving $17 million in total. Carolyn Wren, a senior advisor to his Republican opponent Kari Lake, found other oddities, including unemployed Virginia Smith donating to Gallego 57 times.
Gallego significantly outraised Lake in the Senate race. The vast majority of his funding came from out of state, and much of it appears to have been laundered through ActBlue. He raised approximately $36 million in 2024, while Lake raised approximately $17 million.
Congress is investigating ActBlue and Smurfing. Then-Senator Marco Rubio sent a complaint letter to the FEC regarding ActBlue’s failure to require CCV numbers to process credit card donations. ActBlue agreed to require them. In October 2024, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton petitioned the FEC to take immediate action to “close fundraising loopholes that jeopardize American election integrity” following his investigation into the Democrat fundraising platform ActBlue. In August, South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson sent a letter to the CEO of ActBlue about the Smurfing allegations. Last fall, 19 state attorneys general began investigating ActBlue.
Tom |
