Time was when a prominent member of Congress was caught in a major lie, purposely misleading his peers and the American public, he would face consequences. His own party would denounce him, the electorate would surely vote him out of office, or he might resign in disgrace to avoid further embarrassment. But today’s political atmosphere is starkly different. California’s U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff knowingly lied about then-President Donald J. Trump and the alleged Russian collusion fabrication. His Democratic peers and media allies cheered Schiff on, and he is now on the precipice of ascending to the U.S. Senate. Schiff leads his Republican rival, former Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres All-Star first baseman Steve Garvey, 63%-37%. His election would be a rich but undeserved reward for a candidate who knowingly lied to advance his party’s 2020 chances to gain control of Congress and to regain the White House. Lying to Congress, even if it not under oath, is a felony that can land the perjurer in jail. Consider John M. Poindexter, President Ronald Reagan’s national security adviser, who the court sentenced to six months in prison for covering-up in his congressional testimony about the Iran-Contra affair’s key details.
Schiff most famously claimed that Congress had not only uncovered the sitting president’s 2016 campaign’s criminal conspiracy but also that he himself personally possessed a “smoking gun” that incriminated Trump. The gun didn’t exist, but no matter. Schiff was never held accountable for his brazen falsehoods, none bolder than his repeated insistence that the FBI and Department of Justice officials did not abuse Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) courts or hide crucial information from judges. Schiff’s countless lies went largely unchallenged by a fawning political media, even though the congressman since 2016 had been a frequent guest on every network but rarely on the conservative-leaning Fox News. In a 2018 memo, Schiff, then chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, wrote that the “DOJ met the rigor, transparency and evidentiary basis needed to meet FISA’s probable cause requirement.” But Michael Horowitz, the Department of Justice’s Inspector General, found exactly the opposite. Horowitz’s report outlined at least seventeen “significant errors or omissions” in the FISA surveillance applications, proved that the FBI relied heavily on the scandalous Steele dossier, and fabricated evidence to keep the dossier before the courts even though officials knew that the contents were false. Horowitz’s report revealed that the dossier played a “central and essential role” in obtaining warrants to spy on and subvert the Trump 2016 campaign.
For the GOP to put the most positive spin on Schiff’s probable election, it should remember that Schiff would replace Dianne Feinstein who held the seat for 21 years until she died and would also assume Feinstein’s temporary replacement Senator Laphonza Butler. The two sitting senators earned D- and F immigration grades, respectively. When casting his immigration votes in the next Congress, Schiff—grade F during his 23 years in the House— would be no worse than his predecessors, cold comfort to Californians who want much-needed change. Since Garvey has never held elective office, his voting record is a blank slate. But his website shows that he has sound ideas about how to reverse the Biden/Harris border crisis: increase border security funding to hire more agents, expand detention space and turn back illegal entrants specious asylum claims. In its polling, the Public Policy Institute of California found that seven in ten think the current situation with the US–Mexico border is a “crisis” or a “very serious problem.” The polls’ results could translate into Garvey votes.
California desperately needs to get back on the right track. The state has a crippling $68 billion deficit. Yet, since 2016, California has incrementally expanded costly Medi-Cal services to illegal immigrants. The last increase came on Jan. 1, 2024, for adults ages 26 to 49, the group projected to eventually have the largest number of enrollees. According to estimates released last year, the expansion will cost the state roughly $1.2 billion for the first six months, before increasing to around $3.1 billion per year
The state’s incompetent governance is driving taxpaying Californians away. Schiff is not the man to reverse California’s self-immolating trend. California lost population for three consecutive years, from 2021 to 2023. Demographers once predicted that, by 2050, California would gain ten million new residents. Today, demographers’ most optimistic projection is that California’s population will stagnate. Defined: the middle class will keep leaving for more livable, affordable states and illegal aliens will keep entering. Both of California’s senators, presumably Schiff and incumbent Alex Padilla, have voted against bills that would secure the border or strengthen interior enforcement. Eliminating a multi-billion-dollar budget deficit when the taxpaying base is fleeing, and services-needy illegal aliens are entering is a tall order.
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