00:00Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Appreciate being here. And I want to just begin by echoing, of course,
00:04Ranking Member Morelli and Ranking Member Raskin. Look, the biggest fraud in this country
00:09that we should be talking about is happening at the White House. We're not talking about
00:14the $1.8 billion slush fund. We're not talking about the clear selling or influence of pardons
00:20in what's happening at the White House. We're not talking about the $2 billion that Jared
00:24Kushner got two months after leaving the White House for an investment fund that's made no
00:28return. We're not talking about the possible Trump family pay-to-play schemes and scandals
00:34that are happening across the world as President Trump tries to do diplomacy and the Trump family
00:40follows up with real estate deals. We're here because Republicans want to talk about Act
00:45Blue, not because they're serious about strengthening campaign finance laws or actually strengthening
00:51the abuse of fraud in this country. Now, we should all support and work to strengthen
00:57security, prevent fraud, stop interference in foreign elections, and certainly if there
01:03are ways to improve platforms across this country, public or private, that should be the
01:10focus. But if Republicans were serious about that goal, they wouldn't be exclusively focused
01:16on Act Blue. They'd also be examining the WinRed platform with the exact same level of scrutiny.
01:23Now, a real investigation into WinRed would raise serious questions. The Trump campaign,
01:28as has been mentioned through WinRed, has accepted thousands of contributions that reportedly lacked
01:34basic identifying information required under campaign finance law. Now, according to reporting,
01:41President Trump received more than 1,000 contributions that omitted key identifying information such as
01:47city, state, address, county. And he also received contributions from donors whose names were incomplete,
01:53listed as anonymous or marked name not provided. So there are concerns. And sure, there are concerns
02:00about foreign source donations as well as it relates to WinRed. Now, one example involved the Chinese
02:05businessman whose contribution to the Trump campaign listed an address in La Quinta, California. Now, public records
02:12identified him as actually living in China and described him as a Chinese national. Now, if Republicans
02:18are concerned about foreign money in politics, they should be investigating those allegations with the
02:23same enthusiasm that they're bringing to Act Blue. But perhaps the most troubling allegations involving
02:30WinRed actually don't even concern foreign money. They concern WinRed victimizing American donors
02:36themselves. In fact, Republican donors, as was raised by ranking member Raskin. Now, CNN reported
02:42that there was one 82-year-old woman living in a modest Baltimore apartment who unknowingly gave more
02:49than $350,000 to Republican causes through recurring donations. Another donor, an 80-year-old Californian,
02:57who later died of lung cancer, contributed more than $180,000 and just had $250 left in her bank account
03:06when she passed away. Now, these stories raise real concerns about WinRed's use of pre-checked recurring
03:14donation boxes and confusing solicitations that many consumers, seniors, and others have had a hard time
03:23understanding. Now, according to CNN, WinRed has been the subject of hundreds of complaints to the Federal
03:29Trade Commission. Far more, by the way, than comparable complaints involving any Democratic fundraising
03:35platforms. Yet it's interesting that we're only focused on Act Blue. Now, WinRed also faced scrutiny
03:43over aggressive text messaging practices, and multiple state attorneys general have investigated its recurring
03:49donation policies. Yet today's hearing ignores, of course, all of that. Because this is not a serious effort to
03:56improve campaign finance compliance. It is a partisan exercise designed to protect Donald Trump, to
04:04protect WinRed, and attack Democrats and political opponents. If the committee wants a real investigation
04:12into campaign fundraising practices, let's examine everyone. And let's follow the facts where they lead,
04:18not pretend to have some kind of investigation that only really is going after one side. And with that...
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