What is ActBlue, to which Trump shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks donated $15?

As investigators continue to look for a possible motive for 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks to shoot at former US President and Republican candidate Donald Trump, his Republican credentials had made things all the more complicated at first.

However, even though Crooks was registered as a Republican voter in Pennsylvania, a donation of $15 made by him in 2021 later cast a shadow of doubt over his political leanings. It has emerged from federal campaign finance reports that he donated the amount through ActBlue, a progressive political action committee, on January 20 that year — the very day President Joe Biden was sworn in.

So, what is ActBlue and why is it significant that Crooks made a small donation to it?

What is ActBlue?

ActBlue describes itself as a non-profit political action committee that provides an online fundraising platform for Democratic candidates, progressive organisations, and other non-profits. It is registered with the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) and the relevant state electoral authorities.

Though ActBlue is not officially run by the Democratic Party or any other organization, the non-profit makes it clear that “only Democrats and progressive organizations (not Republicans) can use [its] tools”. It is an independent non-profit with an executive board.

It has arms such as the issue advocacy group ActBlue Civics, digital fundraising platform ActBlue Charities, and ActBlue Technical Services that provides engineering expertise to maintain the platform’s infrastructure.

Do donors pay directly to ActBlue?

No, ActBlue only provides digital fundraising tools and processes contributions for the groups using those. So, people essentially donate directly to a candidate or organization through ActBlue, and not to ActBlue.

“We act as a conduit for donations made through our platform — we process contributions and send them to the recipient chosen by the donor…Groups do their own fundraising and only use ActBlue to process donations,” clarifies the ActBlue website.

Are donations anonymous?

No, ActBlue reports all contributions to the relevant reporting body, such as the FEC, Internal Revenue Service (IRS), or the secretary of state. ActBlue says it is legally required to collect donors’ personal information for campaigns and organizations to report the contributions to the regulatory body concerned.

And that is how Crooks’ donation came to light. Though it is not known whether he paid to the Democrats since ActBlue acts as a fundraising platform for other liberal groups too, he definitely could not have made a donation to the Republicans. He made the minimum donation of $15 among the four specified amounts on ActBlue, the others being $25, $50, and $100.