Sen. Adam Schiff fires back after Donald Trump says he must be ‘brought to justice’
The years-long combat between President Donald Trump and Sen. Adam Schiff erupted again Tuesday, with Trump calling Schiff “one of the lowest of the low” and “a dishonest, crooked guy.”
Trump earlier in the day posted on his Truth Social website that “Fannie Mae’s Financial Crimes Division (has) concluded that Adam Schiff has engaged in a sustained pattern of possible Mortgage Fraud.”
He then furthered the accusation, telling a group of reporters in the afternoon that the California Democrat committed mortgage fraud.
“I think Adam Schiff is one of the lowest of the low. He is a dishonest, crooked guy,” the president said. “I don’t know about the individual charge, if that even happens. But Adam Schiff is a serious low life.”
Within hours, Schiff sent an email to supporters that included Trump’s comments and asked for a donation to the senator’s reelection campaign.
“This is just Trump’s latest attempt at political retaliation against his perceived enemies,” the senator said.
“Trump can lie and threaten me all he wants. I will never be deterred from fulfilling my duties as a U.S. Senator,” Schiff wrote. “I need your help right now to respond. Rush a donation to help me fight back and keep holding Trump accountable.”
Schiff’s residences have been controversial among Republicans for years. As a congressman representing the Los Angeles area since 2001, he designated his home in Maryland 22 years ago as his primary residence.
Schiff, elected to the Senate last year, also had a home in Burbank, which he later said was also a primary residence. The situation has been reported in the past, and experts have found the situation to pose no apparent problem.
Trump outlined the transactions, and wrote on Truth Social that “Mortgage Fraud is very serious, and CROOKED Adam Schiff (now a Senator) needs to be brought to justice.”
The Federal Housing Finance Agency, an independent agency that deals with housing finance and includes Fannie Mae, did not respond to a request for comment by deadline.
Schiff also fired back on X.
He said it “is not a surprise, only how weak this false allegation turns out to be. And much as Trump may hope, this smear will not distract from his Epstein files problem.” Conservatives as well as Democrats want the administration to release files of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Trump was pictured with Epstein years ago.
Tuesday evening, Schiff released a video where he reviewed his history with Trump and defended himself against the president’s claims.
“Big surprise — members of Congress, almost all of them, own more than one home or rent more than one home because we’re required to be on both coasts. So he is using my ownership of two homes to make a false claim of mortgage fraud,” he said.
“But what really is going on here is this is Donald Trump trying to bring about political retribution, retaliation — trying to distract from his Epstein files problem.”
Schiff maintained that Trump’s blasts are “the kind of stuff you see tinpot dictators do. It is designed to intimidate his political opponents and somehow try to silence them. Well, I have news for Donald Trump. This bogus latest attack — this bogus latest call for me to be prosecuted or to be jailed — is not going to deter me.”
The Tuesday blowup is the latest in a series of battles that go back years.
As a House member, Schiff led that chamber’s 2020 impeachment of Trump. Trump labeled Schiff a “pencil neck,” and a fraud. When Schiff ran for Senate last year, Trump called him “Slimeball Adam ‘Shifty’ Schiff, one of the true lowlifes in the history of politics in America.”
This story was originally published July 15, 2025 at 4:06 PM.
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