The co-founder of the Democratic Party’s giant online fundraising machine walked into a closed-door congressional deposition Thursday morning.

Less than 30 minutes later, it was over.

Matt DeBergalis, who helped launch ActBlue more than two decades ago, invoked his Fifth Amendment right while lawmakers questioned him about the platform’s handling of alleged fraudulent and foreign donations.

The moment instantly raised the temperature around an investigation that has already produced subpoenas, staff departures and a remarkable number of refusals to answer congressional questions.

Fox News broke the development Thursday:

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Daily Signal reported that DeBergalis appeared before members and staff from the House Judiciary Committee, House Administration Committee and House Oversight Committee. The three panels are examining whether ActBlue did enough to stop fraudulent donations, including money that may have come from prohibited foreign sources.

The deposition was not a public spectacle. It happened behind closed doors and ended in fewer than 30 minutes after DeBergalis declined to answer questions under the Fifth Amendment, according to the report.

ActBlue denies wrongdoing. The organization has described the Republican-led probes as politically motivated and says it maintains strong systems designed to block fraudulent and foreign contributions.

DeBergalis is not the first senior ActBlue figure to refuse questions. Former CEO Regina Wallace-Jones invoked the Fifth Amendment during a public House hearing in June, adding another unanswered interview to an inquiry that began well before Thursday’s deposition.

House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan has also cited an internal estimate from ActBlue’s board chairman that as much as $38 million in 2024 contributions showed indicators of foreign origin. That figure remains an allegation under investigation, but it helps explain why lawmakers continue pressing for testimony from the people who ran the platform.

That defense has not slowed the investigation.

Here is how the news landed as details from the deposition began circulating:

The scrutiny reaches far beyond one interview.

An April report from the Committee on House Administration said five current or former ActBlue employees had invoked the Fifth Amendment 146 times during earlier depositions. The committee also said ActBlue’s legal and compliance operation experienced a sweeping exodus, with every member of that team gone, fired or on extended leave by March 2025.

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Investigators further alleged that ActBlue had made some fraud-screening rules more lenient during the 2024 election cycle despite internal concerns. The committee has also questioned why the platform did not require donors to enter the credit-card verification value commonly known as a CVV.

Those are congressional findings and allegations, not criminal convictions. They are also serious enough that three House committees and the Justice Department have spent months seeking records and testimony.

ActBlue has pushed back hard.

In an earlier statement reported by Fox News, the organization said it had always maintained strong anti-fraud safeguards and added even tighter measures in 2025. It also said Americans living abroad now must be physically present in the United States when making a contribution.

The fundraising platform called claims that it facilitates foreign donations a myth and said it works to protect the integrity of the political process.

That leaves lawmakers with a basic problem: ActBlue says its controls are strong, while investigators say the records and testimony have produced unanswered questions about what the organization knew and when it acted.

DeBergalis could have helped Congress close that gap. Instead, the co-founder who helped build the platform declined to answer.

The sheer speed of the deposition caught the attention of forensic accountant Sam Antar:

Invoking the Fifth Amendment is a constitutional right. It is not an admission of guilt, and the sources reviewed for this report do not identify a criminal charge against DeBergalis.

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The legal standard is only one part of the fallout.

ActBlue has processed enormous sums for Democratic candidates and causes. When one of its founders appears before Congress and the session ends almost as soon as it begins, voters are going to ask why the people who built the system are unwilling to explain it under oath.

The committees now have to decide whether the accumulated testimony, documents and refusals justify another round of subpoenas, a formal referral or public hearings.

Either way, a deposition that lasted under 30 minutes may have extended the ActBlue investigation for months.

This is a Guest Post from our friends over at WLTReport. View the original article here.

 

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