{"id":2329019,"date":"2024-08-22T08:00:59","date_gmt":"2024-08-22T12:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/actblue-draws-accusations-of-potentially-illegal-schemes\/"},"modified":"2024-08-22T08:10:01","modified_gmt":"2024-08-22T12:10:01","slug":"actblue-draws-accusations-of-potentially-illegal-schemes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/actblue-draws-accusations-of-potentially-illegal-schemes\/","title":{"rendered":"ActBlue Draws Accusations Of &#8216;Potentially Illegal&#8217; Schemes"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">14<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Factblue-draws-accusations-of-potentially-illegal-schemes%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2329019&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>After \u2062President Joe\u200c Biden announced he was ending his reelection campaign, Vice President Kamala Harris reportedly \u200craised over $100 million in campaign contributions within days, with more than $80 million collected in\u200b the\u200b first 24 hours alone. By the end of July,\u2062 her campaign had amassed\u2062 $310 million, drastically outpacing the funds available to the Biden-Harris\u2062 campaign. This surge\u200c in fundraising has been attributed variously to heightened Democratic enthusiasm \u200dfollowing Biden&#8217;s departure and concerns\u200b over\u2064 his age\u2064 and cognitive abilities. However, some Republicans\u2064 are raising alarms over\u2064 potential irregularities in fundraising practices, specifically pointing\u2064 to allegations of &#8220;smurfing&#8221;\u2014a term used\u200c to describe a method of money laundering that involves breaking up large donations to evade limits and regulations.<\/p>\n<p>Federal \u2063lawmakers, including Rep. Bryan Steil and Sen. Marco Rubio, are \u200cinvestigating claims\u2062 that the Democratic fundraising platform\u2063 ActBlue engaged \u2062in misleading and possibly illegal activities \u200drelated to campaign \u200ddonations. Concerns have\u2063 been raised about frequent small\u2064 donations from individuals, such as senior\u2063 citizens, which might have been made without their consent or knowledge. ActBlue has responded, claiming that the inquiries \u200care politically motivated and based on\u2064 false information.<\/p>\n<p>Recent actions \u2063include letters sent to ActBlue \u2062from Virginia\u2019s Attorney General demanding answers about unusual \u200ddonation\u200c patterns, although ActBlue insists it provides an essential service for small-dollar Democratic donors. Moreover, ongoing investigations explore whether proper verification processes are being used to safeguard against fraud, particularly with reports \u200bof gifts and prepaid cards being \u200cexploited.<\/p>\n<p>while Harris&#8217;s impressive fundraising\u200c numbers represent a significant shift in political momentum, they are shadowed \u200dby persistent allegations of unethical fundraising practices that could impact\u200d the upcoming presidential elections.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>It was a political fundraising tsunami.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>A day and a half after President Joe Biden announced he was ending his run for a second term, his vice president and presumed successor <a href=\"https:\/\/www.opensecrets.org\/news\/2024\/07\/kamala-harris-drives-record-fundraising-after-biden-exit\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reportedly<\/a> had raked in an eye-popping campaign contribution haul &mdash; north of $100 million. Within the first 24 hours, Kamala Harris&rsquo; campaign had reported more than $80 million in donations, record-smashing numbers all around.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>At the end of July, just 11 days after Biden dropped out and endorsed Harris, the Democratic Party&rsquo;s new standard bearer had raised an incredible monthly total of $310 million, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2024\/08\/02\/harris-campaign-fundraise-trump-election.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">according to<\/a> the Harris campaign, more than tripling the cash the Biden-Harris campaign had on hand.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>It wasn&rsquo;t just unprecedented. It was curious. Harris, one of the most unpopular vice presidents in U.S. history with an executive record more laughable than the word salad sentences she&rsquo;s tossed over her undistinguished tenure,&nbsp; had instantaneously transformed into a political titan. From buffoon to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/cqqlgq7k374o\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">&ldquo;brat,&rdquo;<\/a> at least on the fundraising cash count. &nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Maybe the cash bonanza was just a case of Kamala fever, an incredible wave of enthusiasm for the old <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/07\/24\/after-years-of-regaling-vp-as-border-czar-media-claim-harris-was-never-in-charge-of-the-invasion\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">&ldquo;border czar&rdquo;<\/a> after the 81-year-old, cognitively diminished Biden finally stepped aside. Or, &ldquo;Weeks of pent-up Democratic panic&rdquo; giving way to a &ldquo;historic flood&rdquo; of campaign donations, from some 1.1 million donors in the first 41 hours alone, as The Washington Post <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nzherald.co.nz\/world\/kamala-harris-campaign-given-170-million-boost-after-joe-biden-steps-aside\/HMD2KSOC5BGTXH7JMVRF3A7SLI\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">put it<\/a>.&nbsp; &nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Maybe.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Or just maybe, as some allege, the massive haul was assisted by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/house-gop-demands-fec-probe-potentially-illegal-actblue-fundraising-dem-platform-hauls-harris-millions\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">&ldquo;fraudulent, deceptive, and potentially illegal behavior&rdquo;<\/a> by the Democratic Party&rsquo;s fundraising platform, <a href=\"https:\/\/secure.actblue.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ActBlue<\/a>. Several Republican lawmakers, including U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil, R-Wis., and Rep. Claudia Tenney, R-N.Y., are taking a closer look at allegations of &ldquo;smurfing&rdquo; &mdash; a cute blue way of describing political money laundering &mdash; ahead of a five-alarm presidential election.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Steil, chairman of the House Committee on Administration, says that at the very least &ldquo;negligent identity security practices involving the use of credit, prepaid, and gift cards for political donations could enable bad actors to circumvent&rdquo; election integrity laws. Some <a href=\"https:\/\/mustreadalaska.com\/money-mules-okeefe-shows-how-actblue-gets-massive-political-donations-from-elderly-fixed-income-democrats\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">allege<\/a> the deed has already been done for myriad Democrat campaigns.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>But getting feckless federal election regulators to investigate and hold anybody accountable may be a tall order in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/backlash-against-disney-grows-after-liberal-actor-in-show-with-gina-carano-made-similar-posts-still-has-job\/\" title=\"Backlash Against Disney Grows After Liberal Actor In Show With Gina Carano Made Similar Posts, Still Has Job\">current political climate<\/a>. &nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Money Laundering by Any Other Name<\/h2>\n<p>In criminal circles, they call it smurfing. It&rsquo;s the practice of breaking up large transactions into smaller ones &mdash; little like the Smurfs, the blue cartoon creatures that inhabited Saturday morning TV screens in the 1980s. The illicit goal of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.investopedia.com\/terms\/s\/smurf.asp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">smurfing<\/a> is to get around current banking regulations requiring financial institutions to report transactions exceeding $10,000 through federal <a href=\"https:\/\/www.occ.treas.gov\/topics\/supervision-and-examination\/bank-operations\/financial-crime\/suspicious-activity-reports\/index-suspicious-activity-reports.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">suspicious activity reports<\/a> (SAR). It&rsquo;s money laundering by any other name, and it&rsquo;s often conducted over many accounts. &nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>In campaign finance land, smurfing entails &ldquo;breaking up large-scale donations in a way that disguises who the money is actually coming from, so the contribution limits on how much money can be donated to a particular candidate can be skirted,&rdquo; explained former Federal Election Commission member Hans von Spakovsky in a recent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/opinion\/what-smurfing-what-every-american-needs-know-about-illegal-money-elections\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">column<\/a> for Fox News.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;It may involve widespread mail and wire fraud and the fraudulent use of the identities of unwitting members of the public to violate federal and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/missouri-senate-race-unpredictable-and-explosive\/\" title=\"Missouri Senate Race Unpredictable And Explosive\">state campaign finance laws<\/a>,&rdquo; von Spakovsky, a Heritage Foundation election law expert, notes.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, who was among the first to raise alarms about ActBlue, asserted on Turning Point Action Charlie Kirk&rsquo;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rubio.senate.gov\/icymi-rubio-joins-the-charlie-kirk-show\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">podcast<\/a> in July that the Democrat fundraising machine &ldquo;has become a money laundering operation.&rdquo;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>ActBlue is a fundraising Colossus. The platform has hauled in more than $14.6 billion in contributions since it launched 20 years ago, on par with the gross domestic product of the country of <a href=\"https:\/\/databankfiles.worldbank.org\/public\/ddpext_download\/GDP.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Moldova<\/a>. &nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>&lsquo;Multiple Serious Allegations&rsquo;<\/h2>\n<p>Earlier this month, Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares sent a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.realclearpolitics.com\/docs\/2024\/Miyares_Letter.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">letter<\/a> to ActBlue officials demanding answers about accusations that donors have been making &ldquo;multiple daily contributions over the course of multiple years amounting to tens of thousands of dollars in aggregate.&rdquo;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;My office has become aware of multiple serious allegations that ActBlue, ActBlue Civics, Inc., and ActBlue Charities, Inc. (together &lsquo;ActBlue&rsquo;) have engaged in fraudulent, deceptive, and\/or otherwise illegal activities in the Commonwealth of Virginia and\/or have aided and abetted others in doing so,&rdquo; Miyares wrote. &ldquo;This includes hundreds of thousands of dollars of contributions through individual donors in the Commonwealth in volumes that are facially implausible and appear suspicious.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<figure>\n<p><span><\/p>\n<blockquote data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">&#128680;&#128680; Breaking: I sent this letter to ActBlue demanding answers. The integrity of our election is at stake. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/0gUhtmQlYY\">pic.twitter.com\/0gUhtmQlYY<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Jason Miyares (@JasonMiyaresVA) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JasonMiyaresVA\/status\/1819408614248808586?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 2, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><\/span> <\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>In Virginia, as elsewhere, there have been reports of senior citizens, who are listed as &ldquo;retired&rdquo; or not employed and at &ldquo;suspicious addresses,&rdquo; contributing significant amounts to Democrats and liberal causes, the attorney general asserts. He said it appears donations may have been made without the knowledge or consent of Virginia residents.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>In a statement posted on X, ActBlue officials assert the platform is the victim of a &ldquo;years-long disinformation and harassment campaign targeting ActBlue based on frivolous and false accusations.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;This investigation is nothing more than a partisan political attack and scare tactic to undermine the power of Democratic and progressive small-dollar donors,&rdquo; the statement added. &ldquo;We welcome the opportunity to respond to these frivolous claims.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>ActBlue did not respond to The Federalist&rsquo;s request for comment.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<figure>\n<p><span><\/p>\n<blockquote data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Today, the Virginia Attorney General lent the credibility of their office to a years-long disinformation and harassment campaign targeting ActBlue based on frivolous and false accusations. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Z9Y3v8M33p\">pic.twitter.com\/Z9Y3v8M33p<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; ActBlue (@actblue) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/actblue\/status\/1819438054534181083?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 2, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><\/span> <\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Last week, Miyares gave ActBlue <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/8NEWS\/status\/1823475865167987089\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">more time<\/a> to respond to his questions.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>&lsquo;Urgent Concern&rsquo;<\/h2>\n<p>Congressional committees, too, are looking into ActBlue&rsquo;s activities.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Steil earlier this month <a href=\"https:\/\/cha.house.gov\/2024\/8\/chairman-steil-launches-expanded-investigation-into-online-political-donations-through-actblue\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">announced<\/a> the House Administration Committee was expanding its investigation into the Democratic fundraising platform. The Wisconsin congressman also sent a letter to the Federal Election Commission asking commissioners to start an emergency rulemaking proceeding requiring political campaigns to verify online donors&rsquo; <a href=\"https:\/\/fraud.net\/d\/cvv-card-verification-value\/#:~:text=The%20card%20verification%20value%20(CVV,pay%20for%20goods%20or%20services.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Card Verification Value (CVV)<\/a> and &ldquo;to prohibit political committees from accepting online contributions from gift cards&rdquo;&nbsp;or other prepaid credit and debit cards.<\/p>\n<p>Last year, ActBlue confirmed it did not require a CVV to donate on its platform. It has since reportedly changed that policy. On Aug. 8, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton issued a <a href=\"https:\/\/texasattorneygeneral.gov\/news\/releases\/attorney-general-ken-paxtons-ongoing-investigation-actblue-yields-cooperation-donor-credit-card\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">press release<\/a> announcing that ActBlue now requires the codes. Paxton opened an investigation into the platform in December.&nbsp; Rubio introduced a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rubio.senate.gov\/rubio-to-introduce-bill-fixing-foreign-donation-loophole-exploited-by-actblue\/#:~:text=In%20response,%20U.S.%20Senator%20Marco,as%20a%20condition%20of%20donating.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">bill<\/a> back in 2022 demanding fundraising platforms require CVV codes to donate. The bill has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rubio.senate.gov\/rubio-reintroduces-13-bills\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">gone nowhere<\/a> in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/bill\/118th-congress\/senate-bill\/491\/all-info\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Democrat-controlled Senate<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Questions and concerns persist. Are individuals and groups, including foreign actors, using prepaid credit cards to fraudulently schedule donations in someone else&rsquo;s name? Are straw donors making donations in individuals&rsquo; names without their knowledge or consent? Sources have contacted the Administration Committee complaining that their information has been fraudulently used.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>As of this week, the FEC had not responded to Steil&rsquo;s letter. The committee held a briefing with the commission last week. Don&rsquo;t expect the six-member FEC, made up of three Republicans and three Democrats, to resolve this serious campaign finance issue or any other. It has been effectively impotent for years. &nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Steil has asked the U.S. Treasury Department&rsquo;s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network to investigate the matter and for a briefing next month on &ldquo;an urgent concern regarding potential illicit election funding, possibly by foreign actors.&rdquo;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Negligent identity security practices involving the use of credit, prepaid, and gift cards for political donations could enable bad actors to circumvent laws designed to protect the integrity of our elections,&rdquo; Steil wrote in the <a href=\"https:\/\/cha.house.gov\/_cache\/files\/c\/f\/cf1f1985-5fe0-474b-9875-7307b9ab2551\/CB08F613CE5531EB6A40AB8A758306BD.correspondence-from-chairman-bryan-steil-to-fincen.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">letter<\/a>, dated Aug. 16. In it, the chairman raised concerns that the agency &ldquo;has not provided the necessary guidance to financial institutions in regard to potential illicit campaign contributions.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>In his column, von Spakovsky wrote that investigations are the only way to get at the truth.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;That means both the FEC and the Justice Department &ndash; and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/dems-include-money-for-abortion-providers-in-1-9-trillion-covid-aid-package\/\" title=\"Dems Include Money for Abortion Providers in .9 Trillion COVID Aid Package\">state attorneys general<\/a> under applicable state fraud laws &ndash; need to get busy, including talking to the donors listed in the filed reports to see if they actually made these donations and were not barred from making them,&rdquo; the former FEC commissioner wrote.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Matt Kittle is a senior elections correspondent for The Federalist. An award-winning investigative reporter and 30-year veteran of print, broadcast, and online journalism, Kittle previously served as the executive director of Empower Wisconsin.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It was a massive wave of political fundraising. Just a day and a half after President Joe Biden declared he would not seek a second term, his vice president and likely successor had reportedly amassed an astonishing amount of campaign contributions\u2014over $100 million. In the first 24 hours alone, Kamala Harris&#8217;s campaign announced more than $80 million in donations, setting new records across the board. By the end of July, only 11 days after Biden withdrew and endorsed Harris, she had raised an extraordinary total of $310 million for that month according to her campaign\u2014more than tripling the funds previously held by the Biden-Harris campaign.<\/p>\n<p>This surge was not only unprecedented but also puzzling. Harris has been one of the least popular vice presidents in U.S. history, with an executive record that many find unimpressive compared to her often confusing public statements during her time in office. Yet she suddenly appeared as a formidable political figure when it came to fundraising.<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps this influx of cash was simply due to heightened enthusiasm for Harris following Biden&#8217;s exit at age 81 or perhaps it reflected &#8220;weeks of pent-up Democratic anxiety&#8221; leading to what The Washington Post described as a &#8220;historic flood&#8221; of donations from around 1.1 million contributors within just over 40 hours.<\/p>\n<p>Alternatively, some suggest that this remarkable financial success may have been aided by &#8220;fraudulent, deceptive, and potentially illegal actions&#8221; involving ActBlue\u2014the Democratic Party\u2019s fundraising platform. Several Republican lawmakers are investigating claims related to \u201csmurfing,\u201d which refers to breaking down large transactions into smaller ones as a means to evade banking regulations on reporting large sums.<\/p>\n<p>U.S. Rep Bryan Steil has expressed concerns about potential negligence regarding identity security practices that could allow individuals with ill intentions to bypass election integrity laws through various donation methods including credit cards and gift cards.<\/p>\n<p>In criminal terms, smurfing is used for money laundering; in political finance it involves disguising large donations so they appear compliant with contribution limits set for candidates\u2014a practice explained by former Federal Election Commission member Hans von Spakovsky as potentially involving widespread fraud using unsuspecting individuals&#8217; identities.<\/p>\n<p>Senator Marco Rubio has voiced concerns about ActBlue becoming akin to a money laundering operation due its significant role in raising funds\u2014over $14.6 billion since its inception two decades ago.<\/p>\n<p>Recently Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares sent inquiries regarding allegations against ActBlue concerning suspiciously high contributions from individual donors over several years without their knowledge or consent\u2014a situation he described as implausible given their profiles (often retired seniors at unusual addresses).<\/p>\n<p>ActBlue responded by claiming these investigations are politically motivated attacks aimed at undermining small-dollar donors supporting Democrats while asserting their commitment to addressing these accusations seriously.<\/p>\n<p>Congressional committees are also scrutinizing ActBlue\u2019s operations; Steil announced plans for further investigation into its activities while urging changes requiring campaigns verify online donor information more rigorously\u2014a move prompted partly by previous lax policies on donation verification which have since been amended following scrutiny from state officials like Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton who opened his own investigation last year.<\/p>\n<p>Concerns remain about whether unauthorized individuals or foreign entities might be exploiting loopholes within donation systems through prepaid cards or straw donors acting without proper consent from those named on contributions\u2014all issues compounded by ongoing inefficiencies within federal election oversight bodies like the FEC which have struggled with accountability measures historically.<\/p>\n<p>Steil has called upon relevant authorities including Treasury\u2019s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) for urgent investigations into possible illicit funding sources affecting electoral integrity amid rising alarm over potential foreign interference.<\/p>\n<p>As von Spakovsky noted: thorough investigations are essential if we hope uncover any truth behind these troubling allegations surrounding campaign financing practices today<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":656,"featured_media":2329020,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-21-at-12.21.19-PM.png","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[23495,15467,38929,38930],"class_list":["post-2329019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-actblue","tag-fundraising","tag-illegal-schemes","tag-political-donations"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-21-at-12.21.19-PM.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2329019","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/656"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2329019"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2329019\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2329020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2329019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2329019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2329019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}