Legislative action to avert a lapse in Title VII of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) authority is in the frantic stage now, as it’s expected the Senate will ignore the House 702 reauthorization bill passed yesterday and instead pass a 45-day extension of the existing FISA Section 702 program. But if that Senate extension is not acted on by the House until after midnight tonight, Section 702 could lapse temporarily. And it would be no big deal at all if it did.

If Section 702 lapses, the Justice Department and the US intelligence community could still collect foreign intelligence information on foreign entities, including terrorist organizations, through several remaining authorities. Collection under Executive Order 12333—which governs the bulk of NSA’s overseas foreign intelligence collection—would be entirely unaffected by a §702 lapse, as would traditional FISA Title I individualized warrant-based collection against foreign powers and their agents.

Further, a §702 lapse would not immediately end currently authorized §702 collection. The FAA’s statutory transition provisions provide that any order, authorization, or directive issued pursuant to Title VII of FISA shall remain in effect until its stated expiration date. Because the FISC authorizes §702 collection annually, the National Security Agency (NSA) and other intelligence agencies can continue acquiring foreign intelligence under any currently valid FISC certification until that certification expires, even if the statute itself has lapsed. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) can likewise continue administering previously authorized acquisition procedures during that period.

Additionally, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche would retain authority to conduct warrantless surveillance on an emergency basis via 50 U.S.C. § 1805(e). Under that provision, the Attorney General may authorize emergency electronic surveillance without prior judicial approval where an emergency situation exists and the factual basis for a FISC order exists. However, the Attorney General must notify a FISC judge at the time of authorization and must submit a formal application to the FISC—in no event later than seven days after green-lighting the surveillance.

Bottom line: Uncle Sam will still be able to identify, surveil, and capture or kill terrorists overseas plotting to attack America even if Section 702 lapses for a bit. What’s most important is getting a final FISA Section 702 reform that ensures the FBI needs probable cause to rummage through American’s digital data swept up under this program.

By – https://www.cato.org/blog/fisa-section-702-lapse-going-dark-myth

ActBlue, the leading online fundraising platform for Democratic candidates and progressive causes, faces intense scrutiny from House Republicans over allegations it processed illegal foreign donations and contributions made with fake or stolen identities. This latest wave of investigations builds directly on a prior April 2025 House report that first exposed serious weaknesses in ActBlue’s donor vetting and compliance systems.

Follow-up demands in April 2026 pressed ActBlue for full compliance with prior subpoenas, citing incomplete document production.

House Republicans, primarily through the House Administration, Judiciary, and Oversight Committees, have investigated multiple allegations, including:

• Illicit Foreign Donations: Reports of millions in contributions with foreign indicators (such as overseas IP addresses and prepaid cards linked to sources including Russia), allegedly enabled by lax vetting despite federal prohibitions.
• Fake/Stolen Identities and Fraud: Widespread use of gift cards, prepaid methods, and fabricated identities. This is highlighted by a Texas AG Ken Paxton’s lawsuit and documented cases where investigators successfully made fraudulent donations through the platform.
• Internal Issues and Cover-Up Claims: A mass exodus of ActBlue’s legal and compliance staff following the 2024 election, along with internal memos from Covington & Burling warning CEO Regina Wallace-Jones that her congressional testimony regarding “multilayered” vetting processes may have been misleading, potentially exposing the organization to “knowing and willful” violations.

Congressional investigations by the Committee on House Administration, the Committee on the Judiciary, and the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform produced reports detailing how ActBlue’s systems allegedly enabled foreign nationals to funnel money into U.S. elections in violation of federal law, which strictly prohibits such contributions.

These warnings triggered an internal crisis and meltdown of the legal and compliance teams after the 2024 election. One interim general counsel resigned, citing leadership’s failure to address past deficiencies and prior representations to Congress.

Whistleblowers played a significant role in exposing ActBlue’s alleged compliance failures. Former ActBlue legal counsel Zain Ahmad is the most prominent whistleblower, claiming he faced retaliation after raising concerns about fraud prevention and donor vetting deficiencies. 

House committees released his deposition transcript detailing these allegations. Investigations also examined ignored whistleblower complaints, retaliation against staff, and related resignation letters, including from interim general counsel Aaron Ting. The Fraud on ActBlue, Part II report and congressional letters reference documents on whistleblower retaliation as part of the alleged internal cover-up.

The House report outlines a complete breakdown in ActBlue’s compliance team linked to  failures in blocking illicit foreign donations and an alleged internal cover-up. During congressional depositions, five ActBlue employees invoked the Fifth Amendment 146 times when asked substantive questions.

An April 20, 2026, joint interim staff report titled Fraud on ActBlue, Part II accused the platform of “knowing and willful” acceptance of illicit foreign contributions. It pointed to detected transactions from foreign sources, including prepaid cards and mismatched IP addresses from countries such as Russia, China, and Saudi Arabia.

Whistleblower statements, internal documents, and legal memos show ActBlue leadership was long aware of significant gaps in donor vetting. In her November 2023 response to the House Committee on House Administration, CEO Regina Wallace-Jones claimed the platform used “multilayered screenings,” including required passport information for foreign addresses. 

However, internal memos from Covington & Burling in early 2025 warned these safeguards were often not applied, especially for third-party payments like Apple Pay, PayPal, or Venmo, and that many foreign donations bypassed review. The firm cautioned that such gaps could expose ActBlue to “knowing and willful” violations of federal law.

These warnings triggered an internal crisis and meltdown of the legal and compliance teams after the 2024 election. One interim general counsel resigned, citing leadership’s failure to address past deficiencies and prior representations to Congress.

Beyond foreign donations, investigations uncovered patterns of fake names and straw donors. Cybersecurity researcher Dominic Rapini identified cases of elderly Americans, often retirees, appearing to make thousands of small donations totaling millions, many of which were later denied in sworn affidavits. In Connecticut alone, nearly $2 million in suspicious donations were linked to just 18 seniors.

ActBlue’s training materials, according to the House Judiciary, Oversight, and Administration Committees’ April 2025 interim staff report, instructed fraud-prevention staff to give donors the “benefit of the doubt,” including accepting contributions made with fake names. 

The training guide explicitly states: “if an otherwise legitimate donor uses a fake name, we would want to accept their donations,” if they otherwise seemed legitimate. The Committees found that ActBlue adopted “a more lenient approach” to fraud prevention overall.

This lax stance, combined with periods of non-mandatory CVV verification, allegedly enabled exploitation by bad actors, including foreign ones.

ActBlue’s November 2023 response, signed by Wallace-Jones, contained material misrepresentations about its safeguards against illegal foreign donations, which were in reality alarmingly weak. The organization later withheld documents responsive to the Committees’ July 2025 subpoenas.

House investigators documented hundreds of overseas transactions processed in compressed timeframes during the 2024 cycle from high-risk regions. Critics argue the platform prioritized high transaction volume, processing billions in Democratic donations, over strong preventive controls, only tightening rules reactively under scrutiny.

In April 2026, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit accusing ActBlue of misleading consumers and authorities about its protections against fraudulent and foreign contributions. During a subsequent congressional hearing, CEO Wallace-Jones invoked the Fifth Amendment more than 20 times. 

ActBlue maintains it has zero tolerance for illegal contributions, uses advanced fraud tools, and that foreign attempts represent a tiny fraction of activity, often involving U.S. citizens abroad. The organization describes the probes as partisan attacks and notes it has enhanced measures, such as stricter rules for overseas donors.

Ongoing DOJ and congressional investigations continue. The scale of the allegations, potentially involving tens of millions in questionable funds, has fueled calls for reforms like the SHIELD Act to close online donation loopholes and reveal broader vulnerabilities in digital campaign finance.

On the June 7, 2026 edition of The Roger Stone Show I took a few moments away from politics, government intrigue, and the endless spectacle that is modern American public life to reflect on something far more important to me. June 6, 2026 marked 10 years since my mother, Gloria Rose Corbo Stone, left this mortal coil. As I sat behind the microphone I found myself remembering not only the woman who gave me life, but the woman who gave me many of the qualities that have sustained me through triumph, adversity, persecution, and redemption. It was from my mother, and from my grandmother before her, that I inherited my grit, my resilience, my stubbornness, my toughness, and my faith. Like many people, I wandered from the Church at various points in my life, but I ultimately found my way back because of the foundation they laid. Whenever I begin preparing Sunday dinner, I think of them.

To Italians, Sunday dinner was never merely a meal. It was never simply about eating. Sunday dinner was an institution. It was a weekly reaffirmation of family, faith, continuity, and heritage. It was where stories were exchanged, lessons were learned, disputes were settled, and children discovered who they were and where they came from. Long before smartphones, social media, and 25 hour cable news transformed America into a nation of distracted spectators, Italian families gathered around a table and participated in something increasingly rare in modern life: genuine human connection. The centerpiece of that tradition was always the gravy. I know there are readers who insist on calling it sauce. God bless them. They are entitled to be wrong.

In my family it was always Sunday gravy. Rich, aromatic, slow simmered Sunday gravy. The fragrance would drift through the house for hours, announcing itself long before dinner was served. My grandmother made it. My mother made it. I make it today. The recipe appears in my book Stone’s Rules: How to Win at Politics, Business, and Style because it is one of the most valuable inheritances I possess. It is not merely a recipe. It is a family heirloom. Every pot contains memories. Every Sunday dinner contains history.

At the center of that recipe stands one immutable rule. The only acceptable tomatoes are San Marzano tomatoes. Not because they sound exotic. Not because they are fashionable. Not because some celebrity chef whispered their name into a camera lens while standing in a professionally lit test kitchen. I use San Marzano tomatoes because culinary truth, like political truth, exists whether fashionable opinion acknowledges it or not.

San Marzano is not a brand. It is not a marketing slogan. It is not a contrivance conceived by advertising executives in a Manhattan conference room. San Marzano is a place. A tangible, ancient agrarian reality. It is a small town in the Campania region of southern Italy situated near Mount Vesuvius. For centuries the surrounding volcanic soil has been enriched by mineral rich ash and trace elements deposited by the volcano. The soil is dark, fertile, loamy, and uniquely suited to the cultivation of extraordinary tomatoes. The result is not accidental. It is the product of geography, tradition, discipline, and stubborn fidelity to ancestral methods.

San Marzano tomatoes are elongated and plum-shaped. Their flesh is dense and unctuous. Their seed cavities are sparse. Their skins are thin and compliant. Their flavor achieves a remarkable equilibrium of sweetness, acidity, and depth. Nothing shrill. Nothing cloying. Nothing coarse. Only richness, resonance, and composure. The tomato intended for serious gravy has always been the plum tomato. Not a slicing tomato. Not a beefsteak tomato. Not some watery supermarket variety bred for appearance rather than substance. Plum tomatoes are cultivated for concentration and structure. Among plum tomatoes, San Marzano occupies an almost sacred status.

Like so many things in life, authenticity matters. That lesson extends far beyond the kitchen. We live in an age drowning in imitation. Artificial intelligence generates artificial prose. Politicians manufacture artificial personas. Corporations create artificial narratives. News organizations frequently present artificial realities. Everywhere one looks there are substitutes masquerading as the genuine article. The same disease has infected the grocery store.

Walk down the canned tomato aisle and you will encounter a carnival of imposters. Labels adorned with Italian flags. Packages decorated with vaguely Mediterranean imagery. Clever phrases such as “San Marzano Style,” “Italian Type,” or “Inspired by San Marzano.” These marketing euphemisms are designed to create the illusion of authenticity without delivering the substance. As we say in Italian-American circles, it’s a fugazi. These tomatoes may be grown thousands of miles away under entirely different conditions. They do not share the soil. They do not share the seeds. They do not share the methods. Most importantly, they do not share the soul.

Genuine San Marzano tomatoes are protected under a designation known as Denominazione di Origine Protetta (DOP), meaning Protected Designation of Origin. This certification guarantees that the tomatoes were grown in a legally defined region using approved cultivars and traditional methods. If the can lacks that designation, you are not buying authentic San Marzano tomatoes. You are buying an imitation.

Can such imposters produce something edible? Perhaps. Can they produce greatness? Never.

My mother’s recipe itself is not complicated. Like many great things in life, its genius lies in simplicity. Genuine San Marzano tomatoes form the foundation. The gravy combines beef, pork, and veal in equal measure, simmered slowly with olive oil, garlic, onion, basil, and a whisper of red pepper. There are no gimmicks. There are no shortcuts. There are no culinary fads. The meat enriches the gravy over hours of patient cooking until the entire house is filled with an aroma capable of summoning memories from half a century ago. The recipe is less a list of ingredients than a lesson in discipline. The secret ingredient, as my mother demonstrated every Sunday, is time.

When genuine San Marzano tomatoes are gently coaxed together with olive oil, garlic, basil, and patience, they undergo an alchemical transformation. They do not collapse into thin soup. They evolve into gravy. Silken. Luminous. Redolent. Rich. A substance that clings to pasta with aristocratic dignity rather than sliding off in watery surrender. My mother’s gravy simmered for hours because she understood something much of modern America has forgotten. Excellence requires effort. Quality requires standards. Traditions survive only when they are respected and defended. She did not consult celebrity chefs. She did not chase trends. She did not believe that newer automatically meant better. She trusted the accumulated wisdom of generations.

The older I become, the more I appreciate how much of my character was shaped by the women who raised me. My mother and grandmother endured hardships that would leave many modern Americans curled into the fetal position demanding therapy, medication, and government intervention. They faced adversity with courage. They practiced their faith without fanfare. They worked hard. They loved deeply. They expected excellence from themselves and from those around them.

Whenever I make Sunday gravy, I am reminded of those lessons. I hear my mother’s voice. I remember her laughter. I remember her strength. I remember the countless Sundays gathered around a table surrounded by family. Most importantly, I remember where I came from.

Ten years after her passing, Gloria Rose Corbo Stone continues to influence my life every Sunday afternoon. Her recipe remains unchanged. Her standards remain intact. Her lessons remain relevant. In gastronomy, as in politics, as in faith, as in civilization itself, shortcuts produce decay while standards produce permanence. That is why I still make my mother’s Sunday gravy. That is why I insist on genuine San Marzano tomatoes. That is why no substitute will ever suffice. And that is why the last honest tomato still matters.

May God bless my mother, Gloria Rose Corbo Stone. May God bless all the mothers and grandmothers who pass down traditions worth preserving. And may there always be a pot of Sunday gravy simmering somewhere in America, reminding us that some things are simply too valuable to surrender to convenience, fashion, or imitation.