‘Scam Artist’: Trump Demands Justice After DOJ Criminal Referral Targets Adam Schiff

President Donald Trump blasted Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) on Tuesday, calling him a “crook” who “needs to be brought to justice” after a federal agency sent the Department of Justice a criminal referral over the California Democrat’s Maryland home.

A senior Trump administration official told the New York Post that the referral, sent to the DOJ by the Federal Housing Finance Agency, “is extremely serious and [Schiff] is not taking it seriously.” The recommendation for prosecution stems from Schiff designating his Maryland home as his primary residence in 2003. In 2009, he bought a condo in Burbank, California, which he also designated as his primary residence.

“I have always suspected Shifty Adam Schiff was a scam artist. And now I learn that Fannie Mae’s Financial Crimes Division have concluded that Adam Schiff has engaged in a sustained pattern of possible Mortgage Fraud,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

The first-term senator, who previously served 12 terms in the House, was one of the leading voices pushing the debunked Russia collusion conspiracy targeting President Trump during Trump’s first term. During the 2024 presidential campaign, Schiff also said he wanted Trump to go to trial before the election, arguing that Trump would attempt to “evade justice by delaying justice.”

“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. I always knew Adam Schiff was a Crook,” the president added. “The FRAUD began with the refinance of his Maryland property on February 6, 2009, and continued through multiple transactions until the Maryland property was correctly designated as a second home on October 13, 2020. Mortgage Fraud is very serious, and CROOKED Adam Schiff (now a Senator) needs to be brought to justice.”

Suspicion over Schiff’s homes arose in 2023 while he was running for Senate after CNN reported that he refinanced his mortgage in 2020 to indicate that his Maryland house was his second home, but according to social media posts, the then-congressman appeared to be still living there full time with his family, and records showed that his son was attending school in Maryland.

By making the California condo his primary residence, Schiff got a $7,000 reduction off the state’s 1% property tax, but he did not take any tax breaks for his home in Maryland, according to The National News Desk. Real estate law experts told CNN in 2023 that Schiff was likely “in the clear” due to the “ambiguous language” in California law.

Schiff responded to Trump’s post on Tuesday, calling it a “baseless attempt at political retribution.”

“Since I led his first impeachment, Trump has repeatedly called for me to be arrested for treason. So in a way, I guess this is a bit of a letdown,” he wrote on X.  “And this baseless attempt at political retribution won’t stop me from holding him accountable. Not by a long shot.”

“This is just Donald Trump’s latest attempt at political retaliation against his perceived enemies,” Schiff added. “So it is not a surprise, only how weak this false allegation turns out to be. And much as Trump may hope, this smear will not distract from his Epstein files problem.”