Left: Senator Adam Schiff (D-CA) is seen during a Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works during a hearing regarding President Trump”s budget request for the EPA, in Washington DC, on Wednesday, May 21, 2025 (Photo by Aaron Schwartz/Sipa USA)(Sipa via AP Images). Right: President Donald Trump speaks during the White House Faith Office luncheon in the State Dining Room, Monday, July 14, 2025, in Washington (AP Photo/Evan Vucci).
President Donald Trump spent part of Tuesday morning on a social media post accusing his long-term rival Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., of “possible Mortgage fraud,” raising the question of whether another top Democrat will end up in the investigatory crosshairs of the administration.
In a post on his platform Truth Social, Trump claimed that a division within the congressionally created mortgage purchaser Fannie Mae has obtained some evidence to suggest a “sustained pattern of possible Mortgage Fraud” on the part of Schiff — an allegation Schiff has since blasted as “false” and “baseless.”
“I have always suspected Shifty Adam Shiff [sic] 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,” the president wrote. “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.”
Calling Schiff a “crook,” Trump next sketched out the purported details of the “very serious” alleged “FRAUD” for which the senator must “be brought to justice.”
“I always knew Adam Schiff was a Crook. 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,” Trump continued.
Law&Crime reached out to Schiff’s office to inquire about whether there was any such internal Fannie Mae conclusion and for comment in response to the president’s claims.
In an answer, a spokesperson for Schiff’s office said the claims are “baseless,” “debunked” and an act of desperation by a president in sore need of a distraction from his base’s outrage over the administration’s handling of the “Epstein files.”
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“Donald Trump’s latest effort at political retaliation and retribution will fail. These baseless allegations have been previously debunked. It’s clear that President Trump is trying to desperately smear Senator Schiff in order to distract from his Epstein files problems, and he is continuing his pattern of abusing his power to attack his political rivals,” the spokesperson told Law&Crime.
The Trump administration earlier this year similarly accused New York Attorney General Letitia James, another prominent Democrat, of mortgage fraud. The DOJ reportedly launched a probe in response to a criminal referral. James has called the allegation “baseless” and an act of “retribution,” potentially over her civil fraud trial win against the Trump Organization and the president in his individual capacity.
The Schiff spokesperson added that mortgage lenders were “well aware” of the then-U.S. rep’s “year-round” bicoastal living arrangement and that there was complete transparency on the issue.
“As is routine for a member of Congress representing a district thousands of miles away from Washington with kids to raise, then-Representative Schiff made the decision to buy a home in Maryland. He also maintained a home in California where he lived when not in Washington,” the statement went on. “The lenders who provided the mortgages for both homes were well aware of then-Representative Schiff’s Congressional service and of his intended year-round use of both homes, neither of which were vacation homes. He has always been completely transparent about this.”
Schiff, for his part, said Trump’s “baseless” and “false allegation” was no different from his past calls “for me to be arrested for treason,” which he claimed is part of a revenge mission against the senator for serving in the House of Representatives as an impeachment manager during the president’s Ukraine impeachment.
“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. And this baseless attempt at political retribution won’t stop me from holding him accountable. Not by a long shot,” Schiff said in a tweet.
Over the years, feverish claims from the right of Schiff’s arrest have proven to be false. It is also true that Trump has baselessly called for Schiff’s arrest for treason, a crime punishable by death and one that applies to person “owing allegiance to the United States” who “levies war against them or adheres to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort within the United States or elsewhere.”
Like his spokesperson, Schiff then called the “false” Trump social media allegations an “Epstein files problem” distraction.
“This is just Donald Trump’s latest attempt at political retaliation against his perceived enemies. So it is not a surprise, only how weak this false allegation turns out to be,” the Democratic senator continued. “And much as Trump may hope, this smear will not distract from his Epstein files problem.”
Fannie Mae declined to comment after Law&Crime asked whether it had a “Financial Crimes Division,” whether it reached conclusions about Schiff, and whether a criminal referral was made to a law enforcement body.
