Kimberly Peeler-Allen, a board member of the Democratic fundraising platform ActBlue, invoked her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination during testimony in a House investigation into allegations that the organization accepted illegal foreign donations, according to sources familiar with the testimony who spoke to Fox News.
Peeler-Allen’s appearance came as part of a joint investigation by the House Administration, Judiciary and Oversight Committees examining claims that ActBlue took in improper foreign contributions and failed to guard against fraud.
Her decision to plead the Fifth mirrors that of ActBlue co-founder Matt DeBergalis, who did the same during a closed-door deposition before the same three committees on Aug. 20.
The Committee on House Administration, chaired by Rep. Bryan Steil, R-Wis., opened its inquiry into ActBlue in 2023. Steil has alleged the platform could be accepting foreign or fraudulent donations because it does not require donors to provide a credit card CVV number.
In a Tuesday interview with Fox News’ Mark Meredith, Steil said he was frustrated that people connected to ActBlue have repeatedly declined to answer questions.
“I’ve been frustrated, that individuals [in] ActBlue haven’t answered our questions on the record,” Steil said. “We’ve had individuals come, in public testimony, and plead the Fifth. They have a right to do that. And I understand why they did that. But I think the American people deserve to know exactly what’s going on.”
Steil noted that ActBlue has raised roughly $20 billion since its founding and funneled that money into Democratic campaigns and causes. “We want to make sure that they have the fraud prevention protocols in place to make sure that foreign funds are not coming into U.S. elections,” he said.
Asked whether the investigation is politically motivated, Steil rejected the characterization, saying it began as a broader review of online fundraising platforms and their fraud-prevention safeguards.
“One of those, ActBlue, has been called out by The New York Times [for] having misled or lied to Congress. We’re trying to get to the bottom of that exactly what has been taking place inside Act Blue, per the public reporting,” Steil said.
The New York Times reported in April that ActBlue’s own legal counsel had warned the organization that a letter sent to House Republicans by CEO Regina Wallace-Jones may have misled lawmakers. Wallace-Jones had described ActBlue’s screening process for verifying that donations weren’t foreign as “multilayered.”
According to the Times report, ActBlue’s counsel told the organization that it had not always followed the procedures Wallace-Jones described, and called her response to Congress “a substantial risk for ActBlue.”
Wallace-Jones herself invoked the Fifth Amendment during her own deposition before Steil’s committee in June.
Fox News Digital said it contacted ActBlue for comment.
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