Adam Schiff’s Legal Fund Raises $1.2 Million in Defense Against Trump

Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff’s nascent legal defense fund — created to parry legal threats from President Donald Trump — is already a million-dollar operation, according to new financial documents filed with the U.S. Senate and reviewed by NOTUS.

About 400 political committees, individual donors and even an Indian tribe together pumped $1.2 million into the fund from late August through Dec. 31, 2025, the document indicates.

The influx of cash arrived as Trump publicly accused Schiff of corruption and illegal behavior and the Department of Justice investigated the California lawmaker for mortgage fraud. Schiff denies wrongdoing and hasn’t been indicted.

“This fund ensures Senator Schiff can fight back against any false attacks that are leveled against him by Trump and his MAGA allies,” Schiff spokesperson Ian Mariani said in a statement to NOTUS. “The senator deeply appreciates the outpouring of support he has received from grassroots supporters and friends.”

Following publication of this article, the White House slammed Schiff.

“Pencil Neck Shifty Schiff clearly suffers from a severe case of Trump Derangement Syndrome that clouds his every thought. It’s too bad for Californians that Pencil Neck is more focused on his hatred of the President than he is on the issues that matter to them,” said White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson, adding that Trump “has repeatedly delivered for Californians,” including in the aftermath of wildfires that scorched portions of the state last year.

Schiff’s fund supporters include almost two dozen leadership political action committees, including those led by Sens. Mark Kelly of Arizona, Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, Alex Padilla of California, Jack Reed of Rhode Island, Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin and Reps. Nancy Pelosi of California, Eric Swalwell of California and Tim Kennedy of New York.

Other contributors include the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians ($10,000), Pulitzer Prize-winning presidential biographer Ron Chernow ($2,500) and movie director Rob Reiner, who donated $1,000 in November, the month before he and his wife were killed.

California-based attorney Drew Pomerance said he gave Schiff’s legal fund $5,000 in November to push back “against crazy charges our president was trumping up against Adam.”

“I hope Trump gets distracted,” Pomerance told NOTUS. “But the president and his government have resources, and it’s amazing how quickly $1.2 million will leave your bank account faced with that.”

As of Dec. 31, Schiff’s legal fund had already spent more than $743,000, according to its disclosure.

Of that money, the vast majority went to New York-based law firm WilmerHale. Preet Bharara, a WilmerHale partner who previously served as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York and led high-profile federal prosecutions, is working as Schiff’s attorney.

Bharara is also well-acquainted with Trump, who fired him from his U.S. attorney post in 2017, two months into Trump’s first presidential term.

Other Schiff legal fund expenses from late last year include about $38,000 in “credit card processing” fees with ActBlue, the Democrat-supporting fundraising platform company, and $30,000 with Capital Strategies for “fundraising consulting.”

Mariani, Schiff’s spokesperson, did not respond to emailed questions about the legal fund’s fundraising strategy or what specific kinds of services Schiff received from WilmerHale and ActBlue.

Schiff isn’t alone among Democratic lawmakers who have also recently formed legal defense funds amid Trump’s threats — Slotkin and Kelly have, too, although their legal funds’ financial disclosures were not yet available through the secretary of the Senate’s office.

Senators’ legal defense funds are subject to strict fundraising and disclosure rules, with individual donations capped at $10,000. The funds must themselves file quarterly reports with the Senate Ethics Committee identifying donors who have given more than $25.

Several classes of people and entities — corporations, unions, lobbyists, foreign agents and Senate employees among them — are prohibited from contributing at all. Schiff’s legal fund reported returning four-figure contributions made last year from the political campaign committees of Swalwell and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

This article has been updated to include comment from the White House.