Dems Finally TURN THE TABLES and TAKE OVER GOP HEARING!!!
Democrats being led by Congressman Jamie. Raskin turned the tables on Maga. Republicans. Maga Republicans wanted to. hold this hearing to call out and attack. Act Blue Democrats, use it as an. opportunity to go on the offense against. Maga Republicans and say, "Where in the. world is a witness from the Maga. Republican group WinRed, which quite. literally has tens of thousands or. perhaps more claims against it by. Republican donors who say that they were.
scammed by WinRed? Why aren't we. focusing on that?" Congressman Raskin. lays it out, turns the tables, and I. think it gives Americans a lot of hope. that if and when Democrats take control. of the House in these midterms, we'll. have leaders like Raskin and Garcia and. others who will be leading these. hearings and actually getting to the. truth. Watch a Democratic Congressman. Jamie Raskin do his thing here. Play. this clip. >> Preventing fraudulent donations,
transparency, verification, and. accountability. That sounds like a. valuable inquiry to me. The problem is that as we all know, that's not what the hearing's really. about. If it were, our colleagues would. have first submitted testimony from the. CEO of WinRed, the fundraising platform that has. generated hundreds and hundreds of. serious fraud complaints from individual. Americans, mostly Republicans, including. a lot of elderly Americans and Americans. with disabilities who say they've been.
robbed blind, hoodwinked by WinRed. In. many cases, fleeced out of their life. savings. But the Republican chairs of our three. committees have repeatedly refused to. conduct any oversight or investigation. into the WinRed platform that processes. donations for over 7,800 GOP campaigns. and committees across the United States, including all the GOP senators and 97%. of GOP House members. Well, that's just. not a serious approach to the problem.
This hearing is really part of a. political vengeance and vendetta. campaign that yesterday came to the. House Judiciary Committee in the form of. a 4-hour hearing interrogating the. president of the Southern Poverty Law. Center. After the 2020 election, banks and. credit card issuers estimated that. WinRed fraud cases constituted as much. as 3% of their total national fraud. workload across all transactions. That. is a shockingly large share.
given that there are 150 million credit. card transactions that American. consumers and businesses engage in every. single day in the country. Between. January 2022 and June 2024, the FTC. received more than 800 complaints about. WinRed, nearly seven times the number it. got about ActBlue. In the final months. of 2020 alone, the Trump campaign, RNC, and their shared accounts had to issue. more than 530,000. refunds worth more than $64 million.
That's more than 11 times the amount. that the Biden campaign and the. Democratic committees had to refund. And. yet, who have the administration and our. GOP colleagues focused on exclusively. from the beginning? ActBlue, the company. that primarily processes contributions. for Democratic campaigns around the. country. Last April, the White House. issued a presidential memorandum. directing the AG and Treasury to, quote, use all lawful authority to investigate.
ActBlue, which according to the White. House facilitated straw or dummy. contributions or foreign contributions. to political candidates and committees. But, as Americans can see each day, every accusation by this administration. is an admission, every allegation a. confession, every charge a. self-indictment. The arraignment of Act Blue is an. admission about WinRed's continuing. serious fraud against their donors. An.
Associated Press review of President. Trump's political committees found more. than 1,600. contributions from unverified donors who. lived abroad, had close ties to foreign. interests, or failed to disclose basic. identifying information. Many of those. contributions came through WinRed. AP. reported that one Chinese businessman. gave $5,000 to Trump through WinRed. while listing a La Quinta Inn as his. home address. Other contributions came. from unnamed donors listing 999.
Anonymous Drive as their address. Another series of WinRed contributions. listed the donor's address as a vacant. building in Washington that turned out. to be a defunct funeral home. Where is. all of the righteous outrage about these. abuses? Where is the mobilization of. taxpayer resources to investigate. WinRed? Where is Attorney General Ken. Paxton, who was impeached by the Texas.
House of Representatives for bribery, securities fraud, abuse of office, and. obstruction of justice? Attorney General. Paxton sued ActBlue in April, but his. office has ignored complaint after. complaint from Texas constituents about. the allegations of fraud and abuse. related to WinRed. Who are the victims of WinRed that Ken. Paxton deliberately ignores? Well, one. Texas woman tried to make uh small. one-time contributions to Republican.
candidates that she supported. WinRed. emptied more than $15,000. out of her bank account, including. charging her account 29 times in one. day. She wrote Attorney General from. that she, quote, "didn't realize they. were sucking my life savings out of my. bank account." He never even wrote her. back. And if that's how partisan Republicans. treat Republicans, you can imagine how. they're going to treat everybody else in.
the country. We I you don't want me to. discuss these other uh complainants. >> the gentleman's the gentleman's time is. expired. >> Next up, I want to show you the Democrat. ranking member of the House Oversight. Committee here, uh Democratic. Congressman Garcia, who also brings up. the utter hypocrisy by these MAGA. Republicans. Let's play this clip. >> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Appreciate uh. being here. And I want to just begin by. echoing, of course, ranking member. Morelle and ranking member Raskin. Um. look, the biggest fraud in this country.
that we should be talking about is. happening at the White House. We're not. talking about the $1.8 billion slush. fund. We're not talking about the clear. selling or influence of pardons and. what's happening at the White House. We're not talking about the $2 billion. that Jared Kushner got 2 months after. leaving the White House for an. investment fund that's made no return. We're not talking about the possible. Trump family pay-to-play schemes and. scandals are happening across the world. as President Trump tries to do diplomacy.
and the Trump family follows up with. real estate deals. We're here because Republicans want to. talk about Act Blue, not because they're. serious about strengthening campaign. finance laws or actually strengthening. the abuse of fraud in this country. Now, we should all support and and work. to strengthen security, prevent fraud, stop interference in foreign elections, and certainly if there are ways to. improve. platforms. all across this country.
public or private that should be the. focus. But if Republicans were serious. about that goal, they wouldn't be. exclusively focused on Act Blue. They'd. also be examining the WinRed platform. with the exact same level of scrutiny. Now, a real investigation into WinRed. would raise serious questions. The Trump. campaign, as has been mentioned, through. WinRed has accepted thousands of. contributions that reportedly lacked. basic identifying information required. under campaign finance law.
Now, according to reporting, President. Trump received more than 1,000. contributions that admitted key. identifying information such as city, state, address, county. And he also. received contributions from donors whose. names were incomplete, listed as. anonymous, or marked. "Name not provided.". So, there are concerns. And sure, there. are concerns about foreign source. donations as well as it relates to. WinRed. Now, one example involved a. Chinese businessman whose contribution. to the Trump campaign listed an address.
in La Quinta, California. Now, public. records identified him as actually. living in China and described him as a. Chinese national. Now, if Republicans are concerned about. foreign money in politics, they should. be investigating those allegations with. the same enthusiasm that they're. bringing to ActBlue. But perhaps the most troubling. allegations involving WinRed actually. don't even concern foreign money. They. concern WinRed victimizing American. donors themselves, in fact, Republican.
donors as was raised by ranking member. Raskin. Now, CNN reported that there was. one 82-year-old woman living in a modest. Baltimore apartment who unknowingly gave. more than $350,000. to Republican causes through recurring. donations. Another donor, an 80-year-old. Californian who later died of lung. cancer, contributed more than $180,000. and just had $250 left in her bank. account when she passed away. Now, these.
stories raise real concerns. about WinRed's use of pre-checked. recurring donation boxes and confusing. solicitations. that many consumers, seniors, and others. have had a hard time understanding. Now, according to CNN, WinRed has been the. subject of hundreds of complaints to the. Federal Trade Commission, far more, by. the way, than comparable complaints. involving any Democratic fundraising. platforms. Yet, it's interesting that.
we're only focused. on ActBlue. Now, WinRed also faced scrutiny over. aggressive text messaging practices, and. multiple state attorneys general have. investigated its recurring donation. policies. Yet, today's hearing ignores, of course, all of that. Because this is. not a serious effort to improve campaign. finance compliance. It is a partisan. exercise designed to protect Donald. Trump, to protect WinRed, and attack. Democrats.
and political opponents. If this. committee wants a real investigation. into campaign fundraising practices, let's examine everyone, and let's follow. the facts where they lead, not pretend. to have some kind of investigation that. only really is going after one side. With that, I yield back. >> Finally, I want to bring to your. attention Democratic Congresswoman. Jayapal over in the state of Washington. She does a great job highlighting, I. think, something that has really not. gotten enough attention. Why is Donald.
Trump's so-called Board of Peace when. he's going to war with everybody linked. to a private secret JPMorgan Chase. account? Why isn't this linked to some. transparent thing where we know what. money's going in, what money's going. out? What in the world is this? By the. way, at the same time, Donald Trump. filed a lawsuit against JPMorgan Chase. claiming that they debanked him. He's. opening up bank accounts for this Board.
of Peace. Where's the money? And the. professed purpose is what? To bring. peace as Donald Trump supports genocide. and engages in catastrophic and unlawful. wars and kills little girls in the Manab. Elementary School. What What What What. What work are you doing other than. at the Trump regime level other than. furthering the Gaza in. the genocide in Gaza and in Lebanon? What What are you doing? Here's what. Congresswoman Jayapal says. Let's play. it. >> My amendment would require the Secretary.
of State to report to Congress on the. status and amount of US funding that has. been sent to the Board of Peace. An. accounting of how those funds have been. used and documentation of any civilian. harm occurring at any Board of Peace. site funded by US taxpayers. >> [snorts]. >> Every day, month after month, we in. America are witnesses to and complicit. in the horrific genocide in Gaza. The. population has been systematically. starved, civilian infrastructure has. been destroyed, and areas designated as.
{quote} safe have been bombed. Almost. 73,000 Palestinians have been killed, including 20,000 children and over. 170,000. have been injured. Even by Israel's own. statistics, which drastically undercount. the number of fatalities, the IDF has. killed more civilians than combatants. Nearly all Gazans have been displaced. from their homes and communities, forced. to repeatedly flee to often unsafe and. unsanitary conditions. We have also seen.
the repeated and indiscriminate. destruction of civilian infrastructure, including homes, schools, and. universities, hospitals, religious. sites, and farmland, meaning life in. Gaza will never be the same. President Trump promised that he had the. solution, and in January of this year he. created his so-called Board of Peace to. supposedly oversee the reconstruction of. Gaza and work toward a permanent. political solution to this conflict. Nearly 6 months later, these promises. are still unfulfilled. Palestinian.
civilians remain displaced without. reliable access to food, clean water, medical care, education, or sanitation. And despite the so-called ceasefire put. in place 7 months ago, the IDF continues. its bombardment of Gaza. Just last. month, the IDF killed 119. Palestinians, 30% of whom were either. children, women, or the elderly, making. May the deadliest month for Palestinians. this year.
The United States is Israel's largest. supplier of arms, providing the. government of Israel billions of dollars. in military aid. We have been derelict. in not applying our own domestic laws to. these military shipments and ignoring. international humanitarian laws. This. makes us complicit in this destruction. We cannot just trust that President. Trump's Board of Peace will produce. results. We need an actionable plan, an. accounting of what US funds are being. sent, how they're being spent, to ensure.
the human rights of Palestinians are. respected, and that we never have. another inhumane aid distribution system. like we saw with the Gaza Humanitarian. Foundation. In February, the US reportedly pledged. $1 billion in taxpayer funds to the. Board of Peace, but recent reporting has. confirmed that the Board's account, managed by the World Bank, has $0 in it. That's right, zero. Supposedly, money.
has been deposited into a separate. private JP Morgan account with. absolutely no transparency. When asked. about funding for the Board of Peace in. front of the Senate Foreign Relations. Committee, Secretary Rubio could provide. hardly any details about the Board's. funding scheme and its strategy to fund. reconstruction and promote durable. peace. As Donald Trump repeatedly squanders. American taxpayer dollars to further his. own interests, whether it's through. funding for his ridiculous ballroom or. his $1.8 billion cop beater slush fund,
it is clear that congressional oversight. is necessary. The American taxpayers and. the people of Gaza deserve to know how. this board of peace is being funded and. where its money is going. I urge my. colleagues to vote yes and I yield back. >> I wanted to show you those three, I. thought incredibly powerful moments. Let. me know what you think. I'd love to hear. in the comments below. Hit subscribe. Let's get to 7 million subscribers. >> Love this video? Support independent. media and unlock exclusive content,
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