Adam Schiff Has Mental Breakdown on Live Television: ‘We Failed’
California Democrat Senator-elect Adam Schiff is continuing to push his debunked claims of Trump-Russia collusion, even years after Special Counsel Robert Mueller found no conclusive evidence to support them.
Appearing on CNN’s State of the Union, Schiff was questioned by host Jake Tapper about his role in advancing these claims. The conversation also touched on President-elect Donald Trump’s recent cabinet picks, including Florida Representative Matt Gaetz and former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
“You were censured in the House last year for, in their view, abusing your position as chairman of the House Intelligence Committee by alleging evidence of collusion between Trump’s campaign and Russia,” Tapper said. “Do you feel any introspection about whether those claims, seen as overstatements by some, contributed to the current political disruption?”
“First of all, it wasn’t an overstatement,” Schiff insisted. “There is evidence of collusion. For instance, the Trump campaign manager met with Russian intelligence and shared internal polling data. The Mueller report outlines this.”
Tapper pressed further: “But the report also states, ‘The investigation did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities.’ Does that not suggest the absence of solid evidence?”
Schiff responded, “Mueller explicitly said that the lack of proof beyond a reasonable doubt does not mean there was no evidence of conspiracy or coordination.”
Schiff faced significant backlash in 2023 when the House of Representatives voted along party lines to censure him for his repeated and unproven allegations that Trump’s 2016 campaign colluded with Russia. Earlier that year, he was removed from the House Intelligence Committee.
These claims were largely based on the Steele dossier, a document suggesting that the Kremlin held compromising information on Trump and that his campaign had worked with Russian operatives. However, Mueller’s 2019 report found no conclusive evidence of such collusion. In 2021, Special Counsel John Durham accused Russian analyst Ivan Danchenko, a primary source for the dossier, of lying to the FBI, further discrediting the document.
Last week, Schiff defeated former Los Angeles Dodgers star Steve Garvey, the Republican candidate, in the California U.S. Senate race. Schiff will complete the remainder of the late Senator Dianne Feinstein’s term, which ends in January, and also begin a full six-year term.
Over two decades in the House, Schiff gained national prominence as the lead prosecutor in Trump’s first impeachment trial. During his Senate campaign, Schiff positioned himself as a staunch adversary of Trump, vowing to hold the Republican presidential nominee accountable if he returns to the White House.
Trump has not held back in criticizing Schiff, calling him “the enemy from within” and a “sleazebag.” Speaking about Schiff, Trump said, “These are bad people. We have a lot of bad people. But when you look at ‘Shifty Schiff,’ he’s, to me, the enemy from within.”
In addition to political controversies, Schiff has faced scrutiny over claims of dual residency in Maryland and California, benefiting from tax breaks in both states. For over a decade, Schiff has owned a 3,420-square-foot home in Maryland while also claiming a homeowner’s tax exemption on a 650-square-foot condo in Burbank, California. This maneuver has saved him an estimated $7,000 in taxes over the years, despite evidence suggesting he primarily resides in Maryland.
Tax records show that Schiff used a Maryland address on a personal check to pay California property taxes only once in 2017. Critics have pointed to this as further proof that his California residence is rarely occupied. According to a source cited by The New York Post, Schiff is “rarely at his California apartment,” which is described as a modest one-bedroom, one-bathroom unit.
The controversy over Schiff’s residential claims emerged as he faced stiff competition from fellow Democrats Katie Porter and Barbara Lee during the Senate primary. Public records show that Schiff designated his Maryland property as his primary residence in 2003 when he purchased it for $870,000.