Adam Schiff Under Fire After Politico Report

California Democrat Rep. Adam Schiff spent years in the media limelight pushing false theories against former President Donald Trump, some of which led to Trump’s first impeachment.

Now, as a potential candidate for Senate to replace the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein, Schiff is under a different kind of spotlight, and what it’s showing might not be good for his Senate bid.

So far, Schiff has emerged as the frontrunner to replace Feinstein, with fellow Democrat Rep. Katie Porter of Southern California in second place.

A survey conducted by the University of California, Berkeley found that among likely voters, Schiff received 20% of the vote and Porter received 17%. One-third or so of those asked were unsure which option they preferred. Sixteen people have declared at least some interest in running for the position.

But Schiff’s checkered past might catch up with him, especially after a Politico report detailed Schiff’s history of cultivating powerful interests and rewarding them with taxpayer money when it served his political ambitions.

A Politico analysis found that Schiff earmarked some $10 million to go to defense contractors who have donated to his campaigns.

Schiff allocated more than $10 million in taxpayer funds to five companies for the development of military technologies from 2001 to 2007, according to a Politico analysis of earmark records, which also revealed that these companies had contributed tens of thousands of dollars to his campaign.

“We were always concerned about the pay-to-play aspects,” Steve Ellis, who runs the group “Taxpayers of Common Sense,” wrote regarding Schiff’s earmarks in a statement to Politico. “If you’re getting a campaign contribution and getting your earmark for that same company or for a client of that lobbyist, it has that perception.”

The Daily Caller added:

The largest donor earmarks by Schiff, totaling $6 million, went to Smiths Detection, which was developing chemical weapons sensors for the military, while another $3 million went to Phasebridge, Inc., which was developing a Naval radar system.

Both of these groups retained a lobbyist, Paul Magliocchetti, who around the same time donated $8,500 to Schiff’s campaign committees. Magliocchetti was later convicted on federal charges of illegal campaign contributions and served 27 months in prison, Politico reported.

Schiff also allocated $1 million in earmarks for Eureka Aerospace, a firm involved in the development of military technology aimed at intercepting vehicles evading checkpoints. Notably, Schiff’s campaign received contributions totaling $34,500 from the CEO of Eureka Aerospace and other members of his household, spanning the period from 2006 to 2020, Politico reported.

“Schiff earmarked an additional $1 million to Tanner Research, Inc., which was conducting research on detecting improvised explosive devices (IEDs), which killed many U.S. military personnel in Afghanistan and Iraq. Tanner’s CEO donated $15,800 to Schiff from 2003 to 2012,” The Daily Caller noted, citing the report.

“Apart from these groups, Schiff also steered $800,000 to Orbits Lightwave, Inc. and $492,000 to Superprotononic, which were researching laser technology and solid acid fuel cells, respectively. Orbits is a contractor for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) while Superprotonic, which was reconstituted as SAFCell, Inc. in 2009, is a materials supplier to the U.S. Army,” Just the News continued.

According to Politico, the founders of both companies made campaign contributions of $3,700 and $1,500 to Schiff’s campaign.

In June, Schiff was censured in the GOP-controlled House over his claims about Trump’s ties to Russia.

“Luna pushing her Schiff censure appears to have opened the floodgates for right-wing lawmakers to pursue similar efforts, with or without buy-in from GOP leadership,” Axios reported. “That was demonstrated last week, when 20 Republicans helped to kill an iteration of the Schiff censure last week that included a $16 million fine.”

The conservative Center for Renewing America also filed a complaint to the Office of Congressional Ethics requesting an investigation into Schiff over his repeated and false claims for years that he had evidence Trump was essentially a stooge for Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“The request comes after Schiff, who previously led the House Intelligence Committee, pushed unproven allegations of Trump-Russia collusion for years and touted British ex-spy Christopher Steele’s discredited dossier,” the Washington Examiner reported.

“Those claims came under renewed scrutiny earlier this year after the release of the Durham report, which concluded the FBI had no proper basis for launching the Crossfire Hurricane investigation into Trump and Russia in 2016,” the outlet added.

In its complaint, the Center for Renewing American requested that the ethics office “impose appropriate disciplinary and remedial action—up to and including expulsion” of Schiff.

Earlier this year, former CIA Director Mike Pompeo accused Schiff of leaking highly classified information.

“During my time as CIA director and secretary of state, I know that he leaked classified information that had been provided to him,” Pompeo, who is rumored to be considering a run for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, said.

“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.”