Latest / The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson / ActBlue CEO Refuses to Answer Questions on Foreign Funds

Transcript

ActBlue CEO Refuses to Answer Questions on Foreign Funds · The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Terrific to what's happening right in our own country because
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: of four years of a blind eye that allowed unvetted
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: sponsors to come pick up four hundred and fifty thousand
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: kids on our borders knowing their reports why the Biden
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: administration was in office, but their own reports was reporting
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: at over a third of the females, regardless of age,
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: was sexually assaulted before they made it to their borders.
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: If you're listening to the forty seven Morning Update with
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: Ben ferguson.
• 0:34
  Speaker 3: Good Friday morning, nice to have you with us in
• 0:36
  Speaker 3: the forty seven Morning Update, and we've got two big
• 0:38
  Speaker 3: stories for you, massive corruption and the Democratic Party with
• 0:42
  Speaker 3: Act Blue being exposed for what they are, as well
• 0:46
  Speaker 3: as a Southern poverty law center and the money that
• 0:49
  Speaker 3: is just coming in. I have it all for you,
• 0:52
  Speaker 3: all right. I want to take a moment and talk
• 0:53
  Speaker 3: to you about what's happening right now in this country,
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: and it really feels like our country is finally getting
• 0:59
  Speaker 3: the momentum we need again. Our leaders are fighting to
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: restore common sense in America first, but we've also seen
• 1:06
  Speaker 3: this before. Conservatives get comfortable, the left starts taking background
• 1:11
  Speaker 3: inch by inch, and we cannot let that happen in
• 1:14
  Speaker 3: these midterm elections. America needs every one of us in
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: the fight, and a big part of that means supporting
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: companies that actually stand for our values. And that's why
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: I'm proud to partner with Patriot Mobile. Patriot Mobile gives
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: you premium priority nationwide service on any of the three
• 1:31
  Speaker 3: major US networks, so you get the coverage you need
• 1:34
  Speaker 3: that you deserve, plus unlimited data plans, mobile hotspots, international roaming,
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: and at one hundred percent US based customer support team. Now,
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: switching has never been easier. You keep your phone, keep
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: your number, and you can literally activate in minutes. You
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: don't go to a store. Patriot Mobile, by the way,
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: is so much more than a great wireless service provider.
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: They've built a growing movement of Americans defending faith, freedom,
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: and family. The future of this country. Well now it's
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: in your hands with every call you make, with every
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: text you send, with every bill that you pay, because
• 2:13
  Speaker 3: when you're with Patriot Mobile, you're helping donate millions every
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: year to organizations fighting for what we believe in. So
• 2:22
  Speaker 3: go to Patriotmobile dot com, slash ben forty seven or
• 2:26
  Speaker 3: call ninety seven to Patriot and if you use the
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: promo code BEN forty seven you'll get a free month
• 2:32
  Speaker 3: of service. That's Patriotmobile dot com slash ben forty seven
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: or nine seven to Patriot and switch today it's the
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: forty seven Morning Update and it starts right.
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: Now, story number one.
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: All right, so let's get back into this act Blue.
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: So there are many people that they've heard the name.
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: You describe this perfectly center. This is the the arm
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: and the power, the muscle of the Democratic Party pushing agenda,
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: ideology campaigns, ad campaigns, advocacy campaigns for radical left things.
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: But when they were asked about their funding, and this
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: is why it matters, they wouldn't answer the question of hey,
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: is this money coming in that you guys are raising
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: from outside of the United States of America. That would
• 3:20
  Speaker 3: be a huge deal because if I remember correctly, Democrats
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: were obsessed with foreign interference in our elections. They were
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: obsessed with if Russia was involved in Donald Trump's campaign.
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: Remember that that was like say, they wanted to impeach
• 3:32
  Speaker 3: him over and now like you asked him a question like, hey,
• 3:35
  Speaker 3: where's your guys funding coming from, they're literally not saying
• 3:39
  Speaker 3: a word.
• 3:40
  Speaker 4: Yeah, it's not just that they want to do impeach
• 3:42
  Speaker 4: them over it. They did impeach him. Oh yep, they
• 3:45
  Speaker 4: impeached him. That the House voted doing peach him when
• 3:47
  Speaker 4: the Democrats had control, and then the Senate acquitted President Trump.
• 3:53
  Speaker 4: But look, the facts here are really concerning on their face.
• 3:58
  Speaker 4: Here's what the New York Post reported. Act Blue ceo
• 4:02
  Speaker 4: pleads the Fifth as House probes illegal foreign donations to Dems.
• 4:06
  Speaker 4: The CEO of the largest Democratic fundraising platform pleaded the
• 4:09
  Speaker 4: Fifth Amendment Wednesday rather than testify before Congress about allegations
• 4:13
  Speaker 4: that her firm illegally funneled foreign donations to federal campaigns. Quote,
• 4:19
  Speaker 4: on the advice of Council, I respectfully declined to answer
• 4:22
  Speaker 4: this question pursue it to my Fifth Amendment rights under
• 4:24
  Speaker 4: the Constitution. Act Blue boss, Regina Wallace Jones said, in
• 4:28
  Speaker 4: response to the first question posed during the House hearing.
• 4:33
  Speaker 4: House Administration Committee Chairman brian's Style from Wisconsin said in
• 4:37
  Speaker 4: his opening's remarks that there was quote significant concern that
• 4:40
  Speaker 4: Act Blue may have allowed foreign donations on their platform,
• 4:44
  Speaker 4: lied to Congress and withheld responsive documents from a congressional subpoena.
• 4:50
  Speaker 4: All three of those actions are illegal. The panel issue
• 4:55
  Speaker 4: to subpoena compelling Wallace's Jones testimony after Act Blue lawyer's
• 4:59
  Speaker 4: indicat she wouldn't answer questions on a voluntary basis. Style
• 5:03
  Speaker 4: and other Republican Committee chairman looking into ActBlue have claimed
• 5:07
  Speaker 4: that Wallace Jones also misled Congress about the strength of
• 5:10
  Speaker 4: fraud safeguards on its platform. Representative Joe Morrell, the top
• 5:15
  Speaker 4: Democrat on the Administration Committee, dismissed the hearing as a
• 5:18
  Speaker 4: partisan exercise and accused as GOP colleagues of refusing to
• 5:23
  Speaker 4: investigate possible illegal foreign donations on their party's biggest platform.
• 5:28
  Speaker 4: Win read with the differences when Red does not have
• 5:31
  Speaker 4: multiple serious, credible allegations of foreign donors and particular Chinese
• 5:36
  Speaker 4: donors funneling vast amounts of cash into campaigns. And I
• 5:41
  Speaker 4: want you to listen to this exchange. This is an
• 5:43
  Speaker 4: exchange with the Act Blue CEO and the House Committee.
• 5:47
  Speaker 5: Give a listen.
• 5:48
  Speaker 6: I'm the advice of my counsel, I respectfully decline to
• 5:53
  Speaker 6: answer this question pursuant to my Fifth Amendment rights under
• 5:57
  Speaker 6: the Constitution. On the advice of Council, I respectfully decline
• 6:03
  Speaker 6: to answer the question pursuant to my Fifth Amendment rights
• 6:07
  Speaker 6: under the Constitution. I respectfully decline to answer the question
• 6:12
  Speaker 6: pursuant to the attorney client privilege and my Fifth Amendment
• 6:16
  Speaker 6: rights under the Constitution. On the advice of Council, I
• 6:20
  Speaker 6: respectfully decline to answer the question pursuant to my Fifth
• 6:23
  Speaker 6: Amendment rights under the Constitution. On the adviceive Council, I
• 6:27
  Speaker 6: respectfully decline to answer the question pursuant to my Fifth
• 6:31
  Speaker 6: Amendment rights under the Constitution. On the advice of Council,
• 6:35
  Speaker 6: I respectfully decline to answer the question pursue into my
• 6:39
  Speaker 6: Fifth Amendment rights under the Constitution.
• 6:42
  Speaker 3: Senator, that goes on for another like two minutes. You
• 6:45
  Speaker 3: get the point. She practiced and rehearsed and did it
• 6:48
  Speaker 3: perfectly right. I'm not going to answer any questions. I'm
• 6:52
  Speaker 3: not going to do anything that can incriminate myself. I'm
• 6:54
  Speaker 3: not going to answer if in fact there's countless dollars
• 6:58
  Speaker 3: we're talking about millions and million coming in from foreign
• 7:01
  Speaker 3: avis series that might be influencing the Democratic Party.
• 7:04
  Speaker 4: Okay, the one word you said that was inaccurate. There
• 7:07
  Speaker 4: was millions just in twenty twenty four Act Blue raised
• 7:10
  Speaker 4: over two billion with a B. Yeah, we're talking a
• 7:13
  Speaker 4: massive amount of money coming in online, typically in smaller donations,
• 7:18
  Speaker 4: but lots and lots and lots of them. And there
• 7:22
  Speaker 4: are literally three minutes of nothing but her pleading the
• 7:25
  Speaker 4: fifth over and over and over again. We only played
• 7:28
  Speaker 4: the first minute of that for you, but it just
• 7:30
  Speaker 4: goes on and on and on. She wouldn't answer anything.
• 7:34
  Speaker 4: And here I want you to listen now to Jim Jordan.
• 7:40
  Speaker 4: Jim Jordan questioning her, Give a listen, your board chairman said,
• 7:45
  Speaker 4: Act Blue accepted up to thirty eight million contributions in
• 7:48
  Speaker 4: twenty twenty four that had the signs of foreign origin.
• 7:50
  Speaker 6: How much fraud is too much fraud? On the advice
• 7:53
  Speaker 6: of counsel, I respectfully decline to answer the question, pursuant
• 7:58
  Speaker 6: to my Fifth Amendment rights under the Constitution.
• 8:02
  Speaker 4: How many foreign contributions did that Blue accept?
• 8:05
  Speaker 6: On the advice of Council, I respectfully decline to answer
• 8:10
  Speaker 6: the question, pursuant to my Fifth Amendment rights under the Constitution.
• 8:15
  Speaker 4: How much money did that Blue accept from Russia?
• 8:19
  Speaker 6: On the advice of Council, I respectfully decline to answer
• 8:24
  Speaker 6: the question pursuant to my Fifth Amendment rights under the Constitution.
• 8:29
  Speaker 4: Why did your entire legal team quit in house legal team?
• 8:34
  Speaker 6: On the advice of Council, I respectfully decline to answer
• 8:38
  Speaker 6: the question pursuant to my Fifth Amendment rights under the Constitution.
• 8:44
  Speaker 3: Center wasn't just by the way at Blue that was
• 8:46
  Speaker 3: having a bad week on Capitol Hill. The Southern Poverty
• 8:50
  Speaker 3: Law Center, well, things weren't going well for them either,
• 8:53
  Speaker 3: and we should definitely talk about that.
• 8:56
  Speaker 4: Yeah. So, the Southern Poverty Law Center also testified in
• 8:59
  Speaker 4: the House of Repid Senatives this week, and their testimony
• 9:02
  Speaker 4: went abysmally bad. The Act Blue CEO sounded like a mafioso,
• 9:07
  Speaker 4: just pleading the fifth over and over and over again.
• 9:09
  Speaker 4: That's the same thing typically mafia bosses have done when
• 9:12
  Speaker 4: they've been in congressional testimony, and that apparently is what
• 9:15
  Speaker 4: Democrat fundraisers do as well.
• 9:17
  Speaker 5: Well.
• 9:17
  Speaker 4: Southern Poverty Law Center didn't plead the fifth, but here's
• 9:21
  Speaker 4: here's how the New York Post covered it. Southern Poverty
• 9:24
  Speaker 4: Law Center CEO grilled at testy hearing about DOJ charges
• 9:29
  Speaker 4: for secretly funding the KKK. The embattled Southern Poverty Law
• 9:34
  Speaker 4: Center CEO Brian Fair appeared Tuesday before the House Judiciary
• 9:38
  Speaker 4: Committee for a grilling over Justice Department allegations that the
• 9:42
  Speaker 4: ostensibly anti Racism Grew secretly funded the extremism it claims
• 9:48
  Speaker 4: to oppose. Fair broadly defended the Center while declining to
• 9:52
  Speaker 4: answer for specific alleged wrongdoing. After the DOJ in April
• 9:59
  Speaker 4: filed fraud and conspiracy charges alleging millions of dollars in
• 10:04
  Speaker 4: donor funds flowed to hate groups including the Ku Klux
• 10:08
  Speaker 4: Klan Arian Nations and National Socialist Party of America otherwise
• 10:13
  Speaker 4: known as the Nazis. All of the allegations in the
• 10:17
  Speaker 4: indictment will be addressed in the Middle District of Alabama,
• 10:20
  Speaker 4: Fair said repeatedly through nearly four hours of testimony. So
• 10:23
  Speaker 4: rather than say I plead the fifth he just said, well,
• 10:26
  Speaker 4: that's going to be addressed in court. Representative Wesley Hunt,
• 10:33
  Speaker 4: a Republican from Texas and a good friend. He asked
• 10:35
  Speaker 4: were donors informed that contributions were actually funding members of
• 10:40
  Speaker 4: the KKK. Fair gave the same deflection, saying that'll be
• 10:45
  Speaker 4: addressed in court. Hunt, one of four Black House Republicans,
• 10:49
  Speaker 4: recounted allegations that legacy civil rights group paid a KKK
• 10:54
  Speaker 4: leader a salary and even approved an expense report for
• 11:00
  Speaker 4: a crossburning Let me repeat that.
• 11:02
  Speaker 5: Wow.
• 11:03
  Speaker 4: The Southern Poverty Law Center, according to the US Department
• 11:06
  Speaker 4: of Justice, paid a KKK leader a salary and approved
• 11:12
  Speaker 4: an expense report for a crossburning quote. According to a
• 11:18
  Speaker 4: superseding indictment, the SPLC paid more than four point one
• 11:22
  Speaker 4: million dollars to informants tied to extremist groups, including the KKK,
• 11:28
  Speaker 4: from twenty ten to twenty twenty three, Hunt said. In
• 11:32
  Speaker 4: two cases, informants who were active members of the local
• 11:34
  Speaker 4: KKK chapter reportedly told the SPLC that they wanted out
• 11:39
  Speaker 4: because they feared for their safety. Instead of supporting their exit,
• 11:43
  Speaker 4: the SPLC employee allegedly encouraged them to remain involved and
• 11:48
  Speaker 4: offered them a monthly salary of one thousand, two hundred
• 11:51
  Speaker 4: dollars to do so. As a result, one informant rose
• 11:56
  Speaker 4: into a leadership role within the KKK, recruited other new memors,
• 12:00
  Speaker 4: purchase KKK materials, and we're even reimbursed for expenses related
• 12:04
  Speaker 4: to cross burning events. Hunt added, quote, I can't make
• 12:08
  Speaker 4: this up. This is not just ironic, sir, it's quite outrageous.
• 12:13
  Speaker 4: Fair gave a big picture of denial during another member's grilling, saying, quote,
• 12:17
  Speaker 4: we don't fund the KKK and we don't fund hate groups,
• 12:20
  Speaker 4: while deferring to the outcome of litigation on the specifics now.
• 12:24
  Speaker 4: I want you to listen to this exchange, in particular
• 12:28
  Speaker 4: with Congressman Brandon Gill when he's questioning the CEO of
• 12:31
  Speaker 4: the SPLC here give a listen.
• 12:33
  Speaker 5: Do you have an opinion on this tattoo?
• 12:37
  Speaker 7: I'm not an expert on tattoos. No, I don't.
• 12:39
  Speaker 5: Okay, I can give you a little bit of background.
• 12:41
  Speaker 8: This is a tattoo on Maine Democrat Cynic candidate Grand
• 12:46
  Speaker 8: Platner's chest. That's the Nazi SS death had death head tattoo.
• 12:53
  Speaker 5: Do you have any opinions on that?
• 12:56
  Speaker 9: If it's what you say, If it's not, it is
• 13:01
  Speaker 9: we oppose Nazis.
• 13:04
  Speaker 5: We opposed, and I agree we do oppose Nazis.
• 13:06
  Speaker 8: Do you think if somebody got a Nazi tattoo on
• 13:10
  Speaker 8: their chest that's indicative that they might be a Nazi.
• 13:14
  Speaker 7: You'd have to ask mister Plattner why he has that symbol.
• 13:18
  Speaker 9: I've likely said that if it is a symbol of Nazism,
• 13:21
  Speaker 9: we oppose Nazis.
• 13:22
  Speaker 8: You don't think that that's indicative that perhaps he holds
• 13:26
  Speaker 8: Nazi sentiments.
• 13:27
  Speaker 7: It may well be.
• 13:28
  Speaker 5: It may well be.
• 13:29
  Speaker 8: I think do people who aren't Nazis normally get Nazi
• 13:32
  Speaker 8: tattoos on their chest? Again, I assume they don't. You
• 13:38
  Speaker 8: assume they don't. I would assume so too. I don't
• 13:41
  Speaker 8: know anybody who's not a Nazi. I don't know anybody
• 13:45
  Speaker 8: who has a Nazi tattoo on their chest, but it
• 13:49
  Speaker 8: is not a Nazi. Do you do you think that
• 13:52
  Speaker 8: somebody who has a Nazi tattoo on their chest should
• 13:54
  Speaker 8: serve in the United States Senate.
• 13:57
  Speaker 7: I wouldn't vote through that person.
• 13:59
  Speaker 5: I certainly wouldn't either.
• 14:02
  Speaker 8: Do you think that this should disqualify him politically from
• 14:06
  Speaker 8: serving in the Senate?
• 14:08
  Speaker 7: Again, I'm not sure where the line of questions it's going.
• 14:12
  Speaker 7: The SPLC.
• 14:13
  Speaker 5: If you're asking me, I'm sorry, go ahead.
• 14:15
  Speaker 9: If you're asking me if the SPLC opposes Nazis and
• 14:19
  Speaker 9: Nazis symbols, the answer is yes.
• 14:22
  Speaker 8: The SPLC is referred to this same tattoo as a
• 14:27
  Speaker 8: racist skinhead symbolant tattoo. You can see the resemblance there.
• 14:33
  Speaker 8: You wouldn't want somebody with a tattoo like that in
• 14:36
  Speaker 8: the Senate. No, No, I wouldn't. I wouldn't either. I
• 14:42
  Speaker 8: appreciate your candor there.
• 14:46
  Speaker 5: I love that.
• 14:47
  Speaker 3: That's how hard it is to get the Southern Poverty
• 14:51
  Speaker 3: Law Center to denounce a guy with a Nazi tattoo.
• 14:54
  Speaker 3: That you have to spoon feed it to them center.
• 14:57
  Speaker 3: And then these are the same people that were actually
• 14:59
  Speaker 3: fun and approving expense reports for crossburning of people they
• 15:04
  Speaker 3: were paying a salary to in the KKK. That is
• 15:07
  Speaker 3: the part that can't pick up and Nazis.
• 15:10
  Speaker 4: To be clear, it wasn't just the Klan. They were
• 15:11
  Speaker 4: also funding Nazis. But look, the head of the Southern
• 15:15
  Speaker 4: Poverty Law Center is a hardcore left wing Democrat partisan.
• 15:19
  Speaker 4: The SPLC is entirely in the tank for the Democrat Party.
• 15:24
  Speaker 4: They hate Republicans. It is fairly striking that the CEO
• 15:29
  Speaker 4: of the Southern Poverty Law Center was forced to say
• 15:32
  Speaker 4: about Graham Plattner, the commi Nazi oyster farmer in Maine, quote,
• 15:38
  Speaker 4: I wouldn't vote for him. And to follow up, should
• 15:43
  Speaker 4: the guy with the Nazi tattoo be in the Senate? No,
• 15:48
  Speaker 4: that tells you just how indefensible it is when even
• 15:50
  Speaker 4: their most extreme partisans are forced to say, of course,
• 15:54
  Speaker 4: not if you got a freaking Nazi tattoo on you, You're
• 15:57
  Speaker 4: a Nazi and we should be not be electing Nazis
• 16:01
  Speaker 4: to the Senate. This shouldn't be hard, and yet every
• 16:03
  Speaker 4: single Democrat Senator except John Fetterman, is unwilling to say
• 16:08
  Speaker 4: what the CEO just said.
• 16:10
  Speaker 6: There.
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: Thank you for listening to the forty seven Morning Update
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: with Ben Ferguson. Please make sure you hit subscribe wherever
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: you're listening to this podcast right now and for more
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: in depth news, also subscribe to the Ben Ferguson podcast
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: and we will see you back here tomorrow