Democratic California Sen. Adam Schiff has created a new legal defense fund amid a Department of Justice (DOJ) probe into his finances over alleged mortgage fraud.
Schiff, a longtime adversary of President Donald Trump, could be staring down a protracted legal fight as the Justice Department scrutinizes his real estate dealings on two properties in Maryland and California while he was serving in the House of Representatives. The California Democrat set up the “Senator Schiff Legal Defense Fund” on Thursday, according to the Internal Revenue Service.
Attorney General Pam Bondi appointed Ed Martin as a special prosecutor on Aug. 8 to investigate the mortgage fraud allegations. Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director Bill Pulte referred the Schiff to the DOJ in May for allegedly misrepresenting a Maryland home as his primary residence to secure more favorable loan terms. The California Democrat also claimed a condo in Burbank, California, as his primary residence during the same time, CNN first reported.
Schiff attorney Preet Bharara has referred to the mortgage fraud allegations as “transparently false, stale, and long debunked.” Bharara is a frequent Trump critic who was fired by the president from his position as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York in March 2017.
A grand jury in Maryland is currently weighing whether to approve a criminal indictment over the allegations that the California Democrat falsified property records to obtain better loan terms on a Maryland property, the New York Post first reported.
Trump has repeatedly called for Schiff to be prosecuted over his real estate dealings.
“Adam Schiff said that his primary residence was in MARYLAND to get a cheaper mortgage and rip off America, when he must LIVE in CALIFORNIA because he was a Congressman from CALIFORNIA,” Trump wrote on the social media platform Truth Social in July. “I always knew Adam Schiff was a Crook.”
Trump has frequently criticized Schiff’s role in the Russiagate conspiracy and suggested the California Democrat could face prosecution.
“I’m looking at Pam [Bondi] because I hope something’s going to be done about it,” Trump said on Wednesday during remarks at the Kennedy Center. “These people put our country at great danger. And Adam Schiff, it was all made up. It was a hoax.”
The California Democrat also served as the lead impeachment manager of House Democrats’ first impeachment of the president in 2020 and then on the committee that investigated the president’s response to the January 6th riots.
“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,” Schiff spokesperson Marisol Samayoa told the Daily Caller News Foundation in a statement. “This fund will ensure he can fight back against these baseless smears while continuing to do his job.”
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