Democrats Give Adam Schiff a Financial Boost in His Defense Against Trump

Sen. Adam Schiff’s colleagues in Congress are helping out his legal defense against a Trump administration investigation in a big way.

Democratic Sens. Chris Murphy and Chris Van Hollen each made maxed-out $10,000 contributions through their leadership political action committees to Schiff’s legal defense fund, which he formed in August.

Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California, the former House speaker, also contributed $10,000 through PAC to the Future, her leadership PAC, according to Federal Election Commission spending records.

Sen.. Chris Murphy, Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Chris Van Hollen. Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call via AP

The legal defense fund is not slated to release an accounting of its late-2025 finances until next year.

But the new FEC political committee spending records offer a notable, if partial, window into the fund’s early bankrollers. Each PAC made its contributions in October.

“Given President Trump’s obsession with using the courts for political retribution, Sen. Schiff must be prepared to respond to his attacks, and Speaker Pelosi is helping him do so as a longtime colleague and friend,” Pelosi spokesperson Ian Krager told NOTUS.

“These are vindictive prosecutions, and the senator stands united behind his colleagues,” Van Hollen’s campaign committee emailed in an unsigned statement.

Murphy spokesperson Deni Kamper declined to comment.

The White House, for its part, referred questions to the Department of Justice, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Schiff earned President Donald Trump’s ire for his roles in Trump’s 2020 impeachment trial and the U.S. House’s Jan. 6 investigation. In July, the president accused Schiff of being “crooked” and a “scam artist” and engaging in a “sustained pattern of possible mortgage fraud.”

President Donald Trump. Michael Kappeler/Michael Kappeler/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images

The Department of Justice is now investigating Schiff, California’s junior senator, for suspected mortgage fraud. Schiff denies wrongdoing and hasn’t been indicted. The investigation itself has reportedly come under internal scrutiny for potential procedural errors.

“While Donald Trump and his MAGA allies continue weaponizing the justice process to attack Senator Schiff for holding this corrupt administration accountable, this fund will ensure he can fight back against these baseless smears while continuing to do his job,” Schiff spokesperson Ian Mariani told NOTUS.

He did not answer a question on how much money Schiff’s legal defense fund has raised overall, to date.

Schiff, who received a preemptive presidential pardon from then-President Joe Biden earlier this year related to his work investigating Trump, isn’t alone among Democrats in forming a legal fund and taking other defensive steps against Trump threats, such as purchasing litigation insurance.

Earlier this month, Sens. Mark Kelly of Arizona and Elissa Slotkin of Michigan formed their own legal funds in the midst of anticipated Trump-directed investigations by the FBI and Defense Department.

Both senators appeared in a video last month, along with four other Democratic lawmakers, telling military and intelligence community members they should refuse “illegal” orders.

In a Truth Social post, Trump described their comments as “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!”

Representatives for Kelly and Slotkin did not respond to requests for comment about how much money their legal funds have raised in the days since they materialized.

Senators’ legal defense funds must abide by a series of disclosure and fundraising rules. For example, individual donors are capped at contributing $10,000 per person. Various people and entities — corporations, unions, lobbyists, foreign agents and Senate employees, among them — are prohibited from contributing at all.

The funds must themselves file quarterly reports with the Senate Ethics Committee identifying donors who’ve given more than $25.