Did Adam Schiff Overstep Legal Boundaries?

There have been calls for an investigation into whether or not Adam Schiff broke the law. A Massachusetts Representative, Schiff caught a break when the House voted against censuring him in a 225-196 vote, with 20 members of the GOP voting against the censure. This was despite Republican concerns about Schiff's conduct, with Representative Tom Massie from Kentucky tweeting that Adam Schiff acted unethically. Schiff has been accused of misleading the American public with falsehoods, misrepresentations and abuses of sensitive information. However, it is unclear if House Republicans will try another resolution against Schiff.

Adam Schiff's role in the Trump-Russia collusion investigation

In April 2017, Schiff appeared on CNN's State of the Union, where he discussed Michael Flynn's request for immunity, his and Devin Nunes's separate inspections of White House documents, Trump's allegations of wiretapping in Trump Tower, and Nunes's apparent close association with the Trump White House. When asked if there was evidence of collusion, Schiff replied:

> "I don't think we can say anything definitively at this point. We are still at the very early stage of the investigation. The only thing I can say is that it would be irresponsible for us not to get to the bottom of this."

Schiff also suggested that Nunes's actions were "an attempt to distract and to hide the origin of the materials, to hide the White House hand." A few days later, Nunes recused himself as the leader of the investigative panel while the House Committee on Ethics investigated whether he had disclosed classified information.

In July 2017, Schiff reiterated the need to ensure that the President was acting in the country's best interests and not out of personal interest or concern over potential Russian blackmail. Trump responded by calling Schiff "Sleazy Adam Schiff, the totally biased Congressman looking into 'Russia'" in a tweet.

In December 2018, Schiff suggested that Trump associate Roger Stone might have lied to Congress, and in November 2019, Stone was convicted of doing so. When Schiff became chair of the House Intelligence Committee in 2019, he embarked on a personal mission to investigate Trump's connections to Russia, separate from the Special Counsel investigation.

In March 2019, the nine Republican members of the House Intelligence Committee called for Schiff's resignation due to his allegations of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. Schiff responded by accusing the Republicans of tolerating "immoral" and "corrupt" conduct by Trump campaign members and appointees.

On June 21, 2023, the House of Representatives censured Schiff for his role in promoting the conspiracy theory that Trump colluded with Russia in the 2016 election. The resolution stated that Schiff had misled the American public with "falsehoods, misrepresentations, and abuses of sensitive information." Schiff denied the allegations, calling them "defamatory."

Schiff's impeachment of Donald Trump

Adam Schiff, the junior United States senator from California, played a key role in the impeachment of former US President Donald Trump. As a member of the Democratic Party and the House Intelligence Committee, Schiff served as the lead impeachment manager in the first impeachment trial of Trump.

The impeachment process against Trump was initiated in 2019 due to his attempts to extort the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump withheld military aid to Ukraine unless Zelenskyy agreed to announce a sham investigation of Joe Biden, who was a potential political rival in the upcoming 2020 election. The evidence of Trump's misconduct was overwhelming, and he was impeached along party lines by 228 votes to 193 in the House on December 18, 2019, making him the third president in US history to be impeached.

However, Trump was acquitted by the Senate in February 2020, with a vote of 52-48, falling short of the two-thirds majority required for conviction. Despite this, Schiff and other Democrats argued that the impeachment process was necessary to hold Trump accountable for his actions and uphold the rule of law.

In 2020, after losing the presidential election to Joe Biden, Trump incited a violent insurrection against the US government on January 6, 2021. This led to Trump's second impeachment by the House on January 13, 2021, for "incitement of insurrection." Again, Schiff played a prominent role in the impeachment process as one of the House impeachment managers. However, the Senate acquitted Trump for the second time on February 13, 2021, with a vote of 57-43, falling short of the required two-thirds majority.

Schiff has faced criticism and backlash from Republicans for his role in the impeachment trials, with some accusing him of partisanship and unfair targeting of Trump. Nevertheless, Schiff has maintained that his actions were in the interest of upholding the rule of law and protecting American democracy.

The House of Representatives censures Schiff

The House of Representatives has issued a formal censure of Representative Adam Schiff, a Democrat from California and the former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, for his role in promoting what the resolution describes as the "conspiracy theory" that the 2016 Trump campaign colluded with Russia. The resolution, which passed along party lines, also cites Schiff for misleading the American public with "falsehoods, misrepresentations, and abuses of sensitive information" about the election and the first impeachment of former President Donald Trump.

Schiff has vehemently denied the allegations, referring to them as "defamatory." He has also been a prominent critic of Trump, serving as the lead impeachment manager in the former president's first impeachment trial and co-chairing the congressional investigation into the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

The censure is a rare and serious form of disciplinary action taken by the House of Representatives. It is a formal statement of disapproval that does not carry any legal consequences but serves as a public reprimand. In the case of Schiff, the resolution was introduced as H.Res. 521 and passed on June 21, 2023, with support from Republicans and opposition from Democrats.

Schiff has represented California's 27th, 29th, 28th, and 30th districts during his time in the House of Representatives. He previously served in the California State Senate from 1996 to 2000 and is known for his work on Armenian-American issues, surveillance reform, and press freedom.

Schiff's involvement in the investigation of the Benghazi attack

In 2014, Nancy Pelosi appointed Adam Schiff to the House Select Committee on Benghazi as one of the five Democrats on the committee. Before his appointment, Schiff called the committee's establishment a "colossal waste of time" and advised Democratic leaders against appointing any members. Despite his reservations, he accepted the appointment because he believed he could "add value".

Schiff, who was also the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, was critical of the Benghazi Committee's makeup, alleging that its GOP leaders were interested only in gathering material for political attacks against Hillary Clinton, who was the secretary of State when four Americans were killed in Benghazi in 2012. He also accused the committee of being a "partisan tool to influence the presidential race" and setting "a dangerous precedent that will haunt Congress for decades".

In response to these criticisms, a spokesman for committee Chairman Trey Gowdy accused Schiff of attending just one of the committee's over 45 interviews. He also stated that the committee was continuing to uncover new facts.

In 2024, after Republicans released their partisan report on the Benghazi attack, Schiff, as a member of the Benghazi Select Committee, released a statement claiming that the report failed to alter the core conclusions of the eight other investigations that preceded it. He also criticized the committee's behaviour, stating that it had excluded Democrats from participating in certain interviews and issuing subpoenas without minority consultation or a vote. Schiff concluded that the committee's conduct and report would go down as one of the worst abuses of Congress's investigative powers in its history.

Schiff's work on Intelligence and surveillance reform

Adam Schiff has been a prominent supporter of surveillance reform, especially following Edward Snowden's leaks of classified intelligence. In 2007, in response to the disclosure of the Terrorist Surveillance Program, Schiff and Representative Jeff Flake offered a successful amendment clarifying that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) is the exclusive means for collecting foreign intelligence information within the US. Schiff also criticised the National Security Agency's bulk collection of telephone metadata.

In 2014, Schiff introduced the Telephone Metadata Reform Act, which would prohibit the bulk collection of domestic phone records. He also introduced several bills aimed at reforming the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, including a bill to require the appointment of outside counsel to argue for privacy and civil liberties protections in certain cases before the Court.

Schiff has been an outspoken critic of the collection of Americans' phone records. He was among the first wave of lawmakers to propose reforms after Snowden's disclosures, pushing to end the program entirely and to overhaul the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. The court operates behind a veil of secrecy, with government lawyers arguing for surveillance warrants before a handful of judges who seldom reject their requests. To balance the scales, Schiff wants to create a body of civil liberties advocates who can argue against the government’s lawyers, and he wants human rights and privacy groups to be able to write amicus briefs on issues that affect Americans’ freedoms.

Schiff's approach doesn't go far enough for some privacy advocates, who would prefer an end to mass surveillance altogether. However, it reflects Schiff’s views on the intelligence world, which he sees as requiring a balanced system representing both privacy and security.

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