By New York Post (U.S.) | Created at 2026-06-22 11:06:03 | Updated at 2026-06-22 13:23:36
2 hours ago
The leaders of three Republican House committees threatened Monday to hold Democratic fundraising powerhouse ActBlue in contempt of Congress after the firm refused to turn over more than 400 documents, citing attorney-client privilege.
A letter from House Administration Committee Chairman Bryan Steil (R-Wis.), Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), and Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) gave ActBlue until Friday to provide the messages, including statements by two members of its legal team indicating the fundraiser was not being forthcoming about overseas donations that were illegally funneled to Democratic campaigns.
“These documents reportedly contain evidence that ActBlue accepted foreign donations, misled Congress, and then retaliated against an employee who spoke up about it,” the lawmakers wrote. “ActBlue appears to be withholding these documents from the Committees in an attempt to cover up the scope and duration of its misconduct.”
Regina Wallace-Jones, CEO of ActBlue, prepares to testify during the House Administration Committee hearing on June 10, 2026. ZUMAPRESS.comActBlue interim general counsel Aaron Ting resigned his post in February 2025 following a call involving ActBlue leadership and outside counsel, warning the fundraiser was “not fully committed to transparently addressing with the Board the seriousness of our most pressing concerns: the legal compliance of ActBlue’s past practices for screening political donations from abroad and its past representations to Congress regarding foreign donations and related matters.”
Days later, ActBlue’s lone full-time lawyer, Zain Ahmad, claimed in an internal Slack message that “he was retaliated against for blowing the whistle on internal misconduct,” according to the lawmakers.
The drama involving Ting and Ahmad was first reported in April by the New York Times.
“On June 5, ActBlue belatedly produced a log of responsive materials that it deemed privileged, but refused to produce Mr. Ting’s resignation letter or Mr. Ahmad’s message. Instead, ActBlue claimed attorney-client privilege over the entirety of these and 420 other documents,” wrote Steil, Jordan and Comer.
“The Committees struggle to understand how Mr. Ting’s resignation letter or Mr. Ahmad’s internal message could be privileged. Neither document could have been ‘made for the purpose of obtaining or providing legal advice,’ “they added. “Based on available evidence and common sense, the purpose of Mr. Ting’s resignation letter was to terminate his employment with ActBlue, and the purpose of Mr. Ahmad’s message was to make a claim of retaliation against ActBlue. As such, both documents were prepared and transmitted by these attorneys in the context of an employee-employer dispute with ActBlue, and not in an attorney-client context for purpose of providing legal advice.”
Bryan Steil (R-Wis.) is among the leaders of three Republican House committees threatened Monday to hold Democratic fundraising powerhouse ActBlue in contempt of Congress. ZUMAPRESS.comMonday’s letter follows a June 10 appearance before Congress by ActBlue CEO Regina Wallace-Jones, during which she took the Fifth Amendment and declined to answer questions.
ActBlue has helped Democratic campaigns and causes raise more than $19 billion since it was founded in 2004.
Nearly $2 billion of those funds flowed to Democrats during the 2024 election cycle, at the same time that internal records, later obtained by The Post, showed ActBlue made its fraud standards “more lenient.”
