OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
California Democrat Rep. Adam Schiff was censured by a majority of House members late last month and, as a result, has gone down in U.S. history, though not in a favorable manner.
Schiff was forced to stand in front of Congress and endure the humiliation of his colleagues, becoming one of only two dozen members of Congress since the nation’s founding to receive a censure. Schiff, however, is utilizing his censure with pride in his U.S. Senate campaign.
“Rep. Adam Schiff has more cash on hand to spend on his Senate run than any individual presidential campaign, according to new FEC data. Why it matters: In an election cycle poised to break records for campaign spending, the hotly contested race to fill Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s (D-Calif.) open seat is expected to be one of the most expensive in the country,” Axios reported.
“After raising more than $8 million in Q2, Schiff has nearly $30 million in cash on hand — more than any other federal candidate, including for president. Schiff, already a prolific fundraiser, received a surge in donations after House Republicans voted to censure him last month for leading investigations into former President Trump,” Axios added.
He is now up against two House colleagues, Reps. Katie Porter of Orange County and Rep. Barbara Lee of Oakland, in a tough race to win over voters in the Golden State.
In the March 5 primary, the top two vote-getters move on to the general election. That means the primary victor in deep blue California will probably also prevail in November.
The effort to censure Schiff began with Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.), who labeled him a “criminal” for allegedly leveraging his former position as head of the House Intelligence Committee to falsely accuse former President Donald Trump of “colluding” with Russia to undermine the 2016 election.
During an interview on Fox News, Paulina Luna discussed the House Oversight Committee’s ongoing efforts to hold former Schiff accountable for lying about the Trump-Russia investigation without any significant evidence to back claims of alleged collusion.
“I will speak to Adam Schiff. Maria, I have a privileged resolution that I’m bringing to the floor, and we are going to fine that man 16 million dollars for using his position to lie to the American people and ultimately push something that not only destroyed our country but ripped us apart and I believe, maybe even permanently damaging foreign relations. He is a criminal, and Adam Schiff, you will be held accountable,” Luna said.
“And yet, he was privileged to information that not even I or many of my colleagues would be able to see,” Luna went on to say. “He used that position. He absolutely aided and abetted a corrupt FBI into investigating a sitting president.”
“Adam Schiff lied to the American people. He used his position on House Intelligence to push a lie that cost American taxpayers millions of dollars and abused the trust placed in him as Chairman. He is a dishonor to the House of Representatives. The Durham Report makes clear that the Russian Collusion was a lie from day one and Schiff knowingly used his position in an attempt to divide our country,” she added.
Earlier this year, Schiff was accused of leaking highly classified information for years in order to damage then-President Donald Trump.
Former CIA Director and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo recently claimed that he was forced to limit how much information he gave to Schiff and his staff out of fear that it would be weaponized and selectively leaked to the media.
“During my time as CIA director and secretary of state, I know that he leaked classified information that had been provided to him,” Pompeo said.
“Outnumbered” co-host Emily Compagno, after emphasizing what a huge problem that is, asked Pompeo why there hadn’t been any accountability if leaking that kind of information is “a felony at a minimum, up to treason.”
“It’s a complicated process, right? It’s difficult to pin down precisely what happened,” Pompeo said. “But I could tell you that when we provided information to him and to his staff, it ended up in places it shouldn’t have been with alarming regularity. We could see it. In the end, I decided I held back information from them as a result.”
