After two decades in the House of Representatives, Adam Schiff returns to the Capitol on Monday to officially begin his term as U.S. senator.
Schiff, who represented the Greater Los Angeles Area, defeated former Los Angeles Dodger Steve Garvey to fill the seat California Senate seatonce owned by former civil servant Dianne Feinstein. Before Schiff’s election, Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed labor leader Laphonza Butler to fill Feinstein’s seat after the 90-year-old died in September 2023.
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Schiff’s 23-year career in the House took him to several committees in Congress, most notably the House Intelligence Committee. As chairman, he led the first impeachment of President Donald Trump in 2020. The rallies brought Schiff to the forefront of national politics and painted him as one of Trump’s most outspoken critics.
The proceedings and his criticism of the president led to Schiff’s censure from the House of Representatives. The solutionintroduced by staunch Trump supporter Anna Paulina Luna, called for the House Intelligence Committee to investigate Schiff’s alleged “falsehoods, misrepresentations and misuse of sensitive information.”
“As chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Adam Schiff launched a massive political campaign based on baseless distortions against a sitting American president, at the expense of every citizen in this country and the honor of the House of Representatives,” Luna said last year. , calling the resolution “a clear voice between right and wrong.”
Censorship is essentially a formal public reprimand by the House of Representatives to punish misconduct that is not sufficient to warrant expulsion. The censured member is typically required to stand on the floor of the House while the resolution detailing his or her transgressions is read. Schiff became the 25th House member to face the punishment.
After his censure, Schiff said he would wear “partisan voting as a badge of honor.”
“To my Republican colleagues who introduced this resolution, I thank you,” he said in 2023 as he ran for his current Senate seat. “You honor me with your enmity. You flatter me with this untruth. You, who are the authors of a big lie about the last election, must condemn the truth tellers and I stand proudly before you. Your words tell me I did that. been effective in defending our democracy and I am grateful.”
Before joining Congress, Schiff served as a federal prosecutor in Los Angeles and as a senator in the California Legislature from 1995 to 2000.
For now, Schiff will serve the remainder of Feinstein’s term before formally beginning his six-year term in January 2025.
