When Trump ordered his Attorney General last month to investigate online fundraising, he cited concerns that foreigners and fraudsters used “programs” developed and “dummy accounts” to channel illegal contributions to politicians and causes.
Instead of calling for an expansive investigation, however, the president has only identified one potential target: ActBlue, The Democrats’ fundraising mastodon, Who admitted to having received more than 200 potentially illicit contributions last year from foreign internet addresses.
Trump’s announcement contained a blatant omission – his political committees also received dozens of potentially problematic contributions.
A journal Associated Press of donations to Trump in the past five years has revealed that 1,600 donor contributions that live abroad, have close ties with foreign interests or have not disclosed basic information, which often makes tasks difficult, even impossible, to identify them and verify the legality of their donations.
Among these were $ 5,000 linked to an abandoned building and $ 5,000 from a Chinese businessman who scored a quinta as an address. Another considerable donation – $ 1 million – was made by the wife of an oil and African operating magnate.
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