Adam Schiff

From Grokipedia

Adam Bennett Schiff (born June 22, 1960) is an American attorney and Democratic politician serving as the junior United States senator from California since December 2024. A former federal prosecutor, Schiff represented California's 28th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2001 to 2023, after earlier terms in the 27th and 29th districts following his unsuccessful 1994 challenge to Republican incumbent James Rogan.

Schiff's congressional career featured prominent roles on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, where he served as ranking member and later chair, overseeing investigations into national security threats including Russian election interference. He acted as lead impeachment manager during the 2020 Senate trial stemming from the House's first impeachment of President Donald Trump over Ukraine-related matters. Earlier, as a prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California, Schiff secured the conviction of FBI agent Richard Miller for espionage, marking the first such case against an American FBI officer.

Schiff drew widespread scrutiny for repeatedly asserting "evidence in plain sight" of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia during the 2016 election, claims that contrasted with the Mueller report's determination of insufficient evidence to establish conspiracy or coordination despite extensive contacts. In June 2023, the House of Representatives censured Schiff by a vote of 213-209 for conduct deemed to include misleading the public about these ties through "falsehoods, misrepresentations, and abuses of sensitive information." He won California's open U.S. Senate seat in November 2024, defeating Republican Steve Garvey after advancing from the primary alongside him.

In brief

Adam Schiff was a prosecutor before he was a politician, an assistant U.S. attorney who learned to write a brief that a jury could follow. California’s legislature and then a House seat were the next drafts.

Intelligence Committee years put him on every Sunday show. The Senate is a quieter room and a larger map; he arrived as a junior member with a household name, which is a strange and useful combination.