Ranking Member Morelle Highlights Dem Investigation of Campaign Finance Fraud, Abuse, and Corruption
WASHINGTON – Today, Rep. Joe Morelle (NY-25), the top Democrat on the Committee on House Administration, continued to press for real campaign finance reform and highlighted what the Committee Democrats’ investigation has uncovered during today’s hearing about the Committee Republicans’ blatantly partisan investigation into ActBlue.
Ranking Member Morelle started today’s hearing by emphasizing how Committee Democrats have continued to investigate credible reports of campaign finance fraud, abuse, and corruption to fill the gaps as Committee Republicans “willingly tolerate corruption when it benefits them.”
“It’s outrageous but hardly surprising that this Republican majority has flat-out refused to investigate credible reports of fraud, abuse, and corruption on the Republican fundraising platform WinRed. Refused to investigate WinRed for facilitating documented, illegal foreign contributions that flowed through WinRed to President Trump’s campaign,” said Rep. Joe Morelle during his opening statement.
As Republicans refused to act on the clear evidence of fraud, Democrats conducted oversight, including:
A letter on May 14, 2025, asking the Treasury Department for information related to financial irregularities on WinRed.
A letter on June 26, 2025, asking the Federal Trade Commission for information on allegations of fraud and abuse on WinRed.
A letter on September 2, 2025, to then-Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares seeking information on potential crimes committed by WinRed.
A letter on June 1, 2026, to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton regarding his office’s failure to investigate widespread and credible allegations of fraud involving WinRed.
Earlier today, before the hearing, Ranking Member Morelle, Raskin, and Garcia took another step in their investigation and demanded a transcribed interview with WinRed CEO Ryan Lyk.
Ranking Member Morelle called for the Committee to subpoena Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to testify, given his failure to respond to the oversight letter seeking information about Paxton’s decision to ignore widespread and credible allegations of WinRed’s fraud and severe harm to Americans. The motion was rejected by Republicans on a party-line vote.
Committee Republicans continued to prove throughout today’s hearing that this partisan witch hunt has one desired outcome for them – and it’s not campaign finance reform. If Committee Republicans were truly interested in combating fraudulent political donations and implementing needed campaign reform, they would not block a commonsense effort to investigate widespread and credible allegations of fraud involving WinRed.
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