Five months after joining the US Senate, Adam Schiff gave a speech on what he called “the 10 best deals for Donald Trump and the worst deals for the American people.”
Schiff spoke about Trump and his family get rich on cryptocurrency and concluding new development deals in the Middle East, and President getting a free plane from the government of Qatar. Meanwhile, he said, average Americans lose healthreceiving price outside the housing market and have to “Choose between rent or groceries.”
“Trump is going to get rich. You're going to get screwed,” the Democrat said.
The speech was classic Schiff – the former prosecutor's attempt to consolidate a complex set of bribery charges against Trump and his orbit into a single, coherent corruption case against the president, while delivering his own party's preferred messages about rising prices and lack of availability.
It was also a prime example of Schiff's post-swearing-in approach. a year ago end the deceased's last term Senator Dianne Feinsteina titan of California politics who held office for more than 30 years previously die in the office in 2023.
Schiff, now serving his six-year term, remains the unblinking antagonist to Trump that many Californians elected him to be. watching him go after the president from the US House of Representatives during Trump's first term in the White House. He also continues to serve as one of the Democratic Party's most talented, if slightly cerebral, ambassadors, criticizing Trump for alleged abuses of power and a lagging economy that has become one of the president's greatest obligations.
Schiff did this while simultaneously defending against Trump's accusations that he committed mortgage fraud on loan documents that were years old; reacting to destructive forest fires which swept through the Los Angeles region in January; visiting 25 of California's 58 counties to meet with others of the nearly 40 million voters; questioning Trump appointees as members of the Senate Judiciary Committee; and struggling to pass legislation as a member of the minority in a deeply dysfunctional Congress that recently authorized longest federal government shutdown in US history.
It has been an unusual and stressful year for the freshmen, drawing sharp criticism from the White House but high praise from its allies.
“The pencil-necked schiff clearly suffers from a severe case of Trump Derangement Syndrome, which clouds his every thought,” said Abigail Jackson, a White House spokeswoman. “It’s too bad for Californians that Pencil Neck is more focused on his hatred of the president than on the issues that matter to them.”
“He's played great for California,” said Rep. Robert Garcia of Long Beach, the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee who endorsed Schiff's opponent, former Rep. Katie Porter, in the Senate primary. “He's not afraid to challenge Trump, he's not afraid of heavy oversight, he's not afraid to ask questions, and it's clear that Donald Trump is afraid of Adam Schiff.”
“Even though he’s new to the Senate,” said Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), “he’s certainly not new.”
Attempts to pass laws
Before he rose to national prominence for helping lead Trump's first-term impeachment and the investigation into the Jan. 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters, Schiff was known as a no-nonsense lawmaker. Since entering the Senate, he has been trying to regain that reputation.
He has introduced bills to harden homes against wildfires and other natural disasters, provide tax breaks for victims of the Los Angeles fires, strengthen California's fire-damaged insurance market, study the impact of artificial intelligence on the American workforce, restore a national ban on assault weapons and expand federal tax credits for affordable housing.
He has also introduced bills to reverse Trump's tariffs, limit executive powers, stop the president and other elected officials from getting rich in cryptocurrencies, and end the White House's bombing campaign against suspected drug ships in the Caribbean.
None of these laws were passed.
Schiff said he was aware that putting his name on a bill could hurt his chances of gaining support, and at times he deliberately took a backseat to bills he was working on (he did not say which ones) to give them a better chance of advancing. But he said he believes Democrats need to “tell voters what they're for” more often and is proud to put his name on bills that are important to him and that he believes will lower costs for Californians.
As an example, he cited his recent Housing Boom Act (Opportunities for Millions of People to Occupy Buildings) it's about building “millions of new homes across America, just like we did after World War II, affordable for working families,” and it's worth pushing forward even if Republicans resist it.
“As we've seen in the health care debate, when Republicans don't act to reduce spending but instead do something that increases spending, we can force them to respond by putting forward our own proposals to move the country forward,” he said. “If Republicans continue to be deaf to the needs of the American people and President Trump calls the affordability issue a sham, they will receive the same kind of blackmail they received in last month's election.”
Representative Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco)staunch ally, called Schiff a “legislative genius” who is “giving people hope” with bills that could pass if Democrats take back the House next year.
“He has a vision for our country. He has a great understanding of the issues from all the years he served. He is a strategic thinker,” she said. “I wouldn't question how he decides to pass a bill just because what's-his-name is in the White House.”
Mike Madrid, a Republican consultant, said Schiff's prominence on Trump's enemies list certainly hurt his chances of passing the legislation, but the hyperpartisan nature of Congress meant his chances were slim to begin with.
Meanwhile, being seen as someone who works to find solutions has clearly benefited him and his party, Madrid said, adding: “He has probably achieved more socially than he ever could have achieved legislatively.”
Criticism and praise
For months, Trump and his administration have accused several prominent Democrats of mortgage-related crimes. Trump has accused Schiff of mortgage fraud for claiming a primary residence in both California and Maryland, which Schiff denies.
So far nothing has come of it. Schiff said he was not questioned by federal prosecutors, who reportedly skeptical about the caseand that he knows nothing about it other than that it is “a broad effort to silence and intimidate the president's critics.”
Schiff supporters and other political observers in the state either ignored the question when asked about Schiff's first year, were dismissive of it, or said they saw it as a potential asset for the senator.
“Adam Schiff is a very honest man, and people know it,” Pelosi said.
“Probably one of the best things that could happen to Schiff is if Trump actually incited [Justice Department] charge him with mortgage fraud and then throw the case out of court,” said Harry South, a veteran Democratic Party official, noting that that's what happened a similar case was brought against New York Atty. General Letitia James.
“He really benefited from Trump putting a target on his back,” South said. “In California, it’s not a death knell, it’s a life force.”
Sen. John Boozman (R-Pa.), who chairs the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee on which Schiff serves, said California represents much of the nation's agricultural industry and Schiff's presence on the committee “is good not only for California, but for our overall efforts to support farmers and producers across the country.”
“I have known Senator Schiff since we served together in the House of Representatives, and we are both committed to advocating for the needs of farmers and rural America on a bipartisan basis,” Boozman said. “We look forward to new opportunities to achieve these goals together.”
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), who chairs the Judiciary Committee, has a “cordial, professional relationship” with Schiff, a spokesman said.
Corrine Rankin, chairwoman of the California Republican Party, declined to comment. Riverside Sheriff Chad Bianco, the leading Republican in the race for governor, did not respond to a request for comment.
Looking to the future
What happens next for Schiff will depend in part on whether Democrats regain the majority in Congress. But people on both sides of the political aisle said they expect great things from him regardless.
Garcia said Schiff will be “at the center of holding the Trump administration accountable” no matter what happens. “Obviously, in most cases we will have the ability to subpoena, conduct hearings and hold the administration accountable in some ways that we don't have now, but even in the minority, I think you see Adam's strong voice being pretty consistent.”
Kevin Spillane, a veteran GOP strategist, said he isn't paying much attention to Schiff's economic messaging because California voters know Democrats have caused the state's affordability crisis by raising taxes and imposing endless regulations.
But Schiff is already “the second most powerful Democrat in California.” after Newsomhe said, and his persistent push for accessibility could take him even further if voters begin to see him as someone who works to find solutions.
Rob Stutzman, another Republican consultant, said he could see Schiff in coming years “rise to the role of Feinstein” as California's “caretaker in the US Congress” – someone with the “ability to make deals” on hugely important issues such as water and infrastructure. But to do that, Stutzman said, Schiff “needs to get rid of the political meme that he is an antagonist to Trump.”
Schiff said that heading into the Senate when Trump returned to the White House, he knew he would have to divide his time “between working in California and fighting the worst of Trump's policies.” But his efforts to rebuild the economy and his efforts to resist Trump are not contradictory, he said, but deeply intertwined.
“When people feel their parents' quality of life was better and their children's future seems even more precarious, too many are willing to entertain every demagogue they meet with the promise that they alone can fix it. They begin to doubt whether democracy really works,” he said. “So I don’t think we can put our democracy on sound footing until our economy is on sound footing.”
Times staff writer Ana Ceballos in Washington contributed to this report.
