Senator Adam Schiff has launched a legal defense fund as he faces a federal investigation into alleged mortgage fraud and ongoing criticism from President Donald Trump over his role in advancing the Russia collusion narrative.
The “Senator Schiff Legal Defense Fund” was filed with the Internal Revenue Service last Thursday, according to the New York Times.
The announcement came as Schiff confronts mounting legal challenges while continuing to serve as California’s junior senator.
“It’s clear that Donald Trump and his MAGA allies will continue weaponizing the justice process to attack Senator Schiff for holding this corrupt administration accountable,” she said.
“This fund will ensure he can fight back against these baseless smears while continuing to do his job.”
The feud between Schiff and Trump dates back to Trump’s first administration.
As a member of the House of Representatives at the time, Schiff oversaw the first impeachment trial against Trump in 2020, which accused the president of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
Schiff also repeatedly pushed the narrative that Trump’s 2016 campaign colluded with Russia.
Trump addressed the issue again last week during remarks at the Kennedy Center.
“Russia, Russia, Russia. Totally phony, created by Adam Schiff, Shifty Schiff, and Hillary Clinton and the whole group of them,” Trump said.
He referred to recently declassified documents alleging that the Obama administration “manufactured and politicized intelligence” to create a narrative about Russian election interference, despite other assessments within the intelligence community.
“It made it very dangerous for our country because I was unable to really deal with Russia the way we should have been,” Trump added, turning to Attorney General Pam Bondi. “And I’m looking at Pam because I hope something’s going to be done about it.”
White House spokesman Harrison Fields also criticized Schiff when asked about the legal defense fund.
“Adam Schiff is a sleazy and corrupt politician who betrayed his oath to the Constitution by prioritizing his selfish and personal animosity toward the President over the interests of the American people. No amount of money can shield Adam from the truth that he is a fraud,” Fields told Fox News Digital.
Earlier this month, Schiff faced additional scrutiny after documents released to Congress by FBI Director Kash Patel cited a Democratic whistleblower who alleged that Schiff approved leaking classified information in 2017 that “would be used to indict President TRUMP.”
Schiff denied the claim, calling it “absolutely and categorically false.”
Schiff also served on the House Select Committee investigating the January 6, 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol. In the final weeks of Joe Biden’s term in January 2025, Schiff was among lawmakers who received preemptive pardons.
The move drew attention because Schiff himself had publicly criticized the idea of such pardons.
“First, those of us on the committee are very proud of the work we did. We were doing vital quintessential oversight of a violent attack on the Capitol,” Schiff said in a December 2024 interview.
“So I think it’s unnecessary. But second, the precedent of giving blanket pardons, preemptive blanket pardons on the way out of an administration, I think is a precedent we don’t want to set.”
The mortgage fraud investigation adds another layer of legal challenges.
In May, the U.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) submitted a criminal referral to the Department of Justice alleging that Schiff falsified bank documents and property records “in multiple instances” between 2003 and 2019.
The allegations concern favorable loan terms for a property in Potomac, Maryland.
Schiff has denied wrongdoing and described the investigation as a “baseless attempt at political retribution.”
