US President Donald Trump has accused the Democratic Party of accepting illegal political donations during the presidential campaign, but ironically, his Republican Party itself has received donations from multiple sources, AP claimed.Last month, Trump asked the Justice Department to investigate ActBlue, the Democrats’ main online fundraising platform. He warned that foreign actors and fraudsters could be using fake accounts to send illegal donations.However, Trump did not mention that his own political committees have also received dozens of potentially improper donations — including from anonymous donors and foreign sources.Trump’s election campaign was flawed in several ways and he received unanimous donations in huge amounts, as reported by AP.
Trump received anonymous foreign donations:
The State law prohibits politicians and political committees from accepting any foreign aid. It also places strict limits on donation amounts.A well-known Chinese businessman, Jiajun “Jack” Zhang, donated $5,000 to Donald Trump through the Republican fundraising platform WinRed, according to campaign finance records. A person listed as “Alex, A” donated nearly $5,000 using a fake US address.Over the past 5 years, Trump’s campaign received more than 1,600 contributions from donors who live abroad and failed to list important personal details like their name, address or country. At least 90 donations came from people listed only as “anonymous” or with labels like “name not provided.” There were two Trump donors out of more than 200 living abroad whose US citizenship was listed as “verified” in the president’s campaign finance reports.
Trump has often ignored political campaigning financing rules:
Donald Trump has a history of not taking campaign finance laws seriously. He has often helped people who got into legal trouble for breaking those rules.For example, in January, his Justice Department dropped a case against former Congressman Jeff Fortenberry, who was accused of taking $30,000 from a Nigerian billionaire.Trump’s campaign has also accepted money from questionable sources. One example is Barry Zekelman, a billionaire from Canada’s steel industry. He was fined nearly $1 million in 2022 for illegally donating $1.75 million to a Trump-supporting super PAC in 2018. That donation helped Zekelman get a dinner meeting with Trump, where steel tariffs were discussed.
Democrats react with anger and concern:
Democrats are outraged by Trump’s action and say his focus on ActBlue is politically motivated and reflects his hypocrisy, as his own fundraising is questionable.“This is clearly an attack on the heart of Democratic fundraising,” said Ezra Reese, an attorney at Elias Law Group.Democratic strategists also fear that if ActBlue is shut down or weakened by legal troubles, it could hurt their ability to raise money. Some estimate a potential loss of up to $10 million in the short term.“There is a real fear ActBlue might not survive,” said Matt Hodges, a tech expert for former President Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign. “It could drain resources and disrupt the midterm elections”, he added.
