(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Democratic fundraising giant ActBlue’s CEO, Regina Wallace-Jones, exercised her 5th Amendment right to remain silent more than 20 times during a contentious congressional hearing Wednesday.
The Committee on House Administration comes as lawmakers investigate corruption allegations surrounding ActBlue, including the possible ‘knowing and willful’ acceptance of foreign donations.
Wallace-Jones published an op-ed in the Washington Post the morning before the hearing, explaining her decision to plead the 5th.
“Invoking the Fifth Amendment is not an admission, or even an insinuation, of guilt. It is not a retreat,” she said. “It is the only reasonable response to a proceeding that from the beginning has been about harassing a political opponent’s fundraising platform, not genuine oversight. Now it has become something far more dangerous.”
Wallace-Jones’s decision didn’t save her from the scathing remarks made by committee members, including Chairman Bryan Steil, R-Wisc.
“Ms. Wallace-Jones is here today because there is significant concern that ActBlue may have allowed foreign donations on their platform, lied to Congress, and withheld responsive documents from a Congressional subpoena,” Steil said. “All three of those actions are illegal.”
Steil’s committee is continuing to probe the matter. The committee sent letters on June 2 five members of ActBlue’s Board of Directors, seeking interviews from them and asking for documents. The committee demanded answers by Tuesday.
Steil first opened an investigation into ActBlue after Wallace-Jones took over in 2023. By 2025, ActBlue’s own attorneys reportedly urged her to seek personal counsel after concerns she appeared to have misrepresented the group’s safeguards to lawmakers regarding foreign donations.
Along with allegations of receiving illegal donations, a Wall Street Journal report from May detailed the spending and raised fresh questions about Wallace-Jones’s leadership and potential legal exposure.
For example, onths after President Donald Trump defeated then-Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024, ActBlue spent roughly $700,000 on a retreat at the InterContinental San Francisco. The event included hundreds of hotel rooms, while Wallace-Jones stayed in a two-story presidential suite under heavy security.
Security costs have surged to at least $2.8 million since 2023, compared to less than $16,000 between 2020 and 2022, according to The Journal.
Travel expenses also spiked, with ActBlue plowing through $4.9 million in travel costs since 2023, including $2.7 million in 2025 alone. That’s up from less than $400,000 in 2022.
New policies allow executives and board members to book first-class flights and receive largely uncapped accommodations.
Operating costs followed the same trajectory. ActBlue spent $87 million during the 2024 presidential cycle, up from the $42 million spent in 2020. ActBlue has already spent $72 million ahead of the 2026 midterms.
Ken Silva is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.
