California Republican Senate candidate and former MLB first baseman Steve Garvey zinged Rep. Adam Schiff during a primary debate Monday night, pointing out the House had censured the Democrat “for lying” about allegations the Trump campaign colluded with the Russian government to rig the 2016 presidential election.
“I think you’ve been censured for lying,” Garvey, who played 19 seasons with the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres, told Schiff during the LA debate.
“And this is exactly what I’m talking about: career politicians who are trying to determine who we are by race or by color or by gender,” Garvey went on. “They never listen. They have pre-arranged words to say.”
Schiff, who led the first impeachment proceedings against Donald Trump, retorted that he “was censured for standing up to a corrupt president” and added that he “would do it all over again.”
“That president has been indicted with … 91 felony counts — that president that you won’t refuse to support,” Schiff said. “Yeah, he’s a danger. And I will stand up to him and [former House Speaker] Kevin McCarthy, and [Ohio GOP Rep.] Jim Jordan, and any of those MAGA enablers in Congress.”
McCarthy and House Republicans voted along partisan lines to censure Schiff in June 2023 for having “abused” the public’s trust “by alleging he had evidence of collusion” between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin.
The California Democrat, who at the time of his allegations served as the chair of the House Intelligence Committee, read portions of the now-debunked Steele dossier into the congressional record and said there was “ample evidence of collusion in plain sight.”
“You honor me with your enmity. You flatter me with this falsehood,” Schiff following the floor vote. “Today I wear this partisan vote as a badge of honor, knowing that I have lived my oath.”
Three independent federal investigations by special counsel Robert Mueller, Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz and special counsel John Durham later found no such evidence existed.
Asked by a moderator during the debate, Schiff steered clear of mentioning the Steele dossier but repeated claims that Trump’s campaign chairman Paul Manafort shared internal polling data with Russian intelligence and helped Kremlin military officials with a “hacking and dumping operation” of the Democratic National Committee’s emails during the 2016 campaign.
A 2020 Senate Intelligence Committee report found “some evidence” that a Russian intelligence officer with ties to Manafort aided Wikileaks in the disclosure of the emails — but Durham refuted Schiff and other House Democrats last June that the Trump campaign chairman’s conduct amounted to collusion.
The special counsel noted that Schiff had also been offered “dirt” on a political opponent in 2018, when Russian radio hosts pranked the Democrat by promising to give him “naked Trump” photos.
Manafort was convicted the same year by a federal jury on eight counts of tax fraud, bank fraud and failing to file foreign financial transactions related to work in Ukraine, but not on Russia-related charges.
“You lied to 300 million people,” Garvey responded Monday night. “You can’t take that back.”
California will conclude its open Senate primary on March 5, beginning with early vote-by-mail and in-person options in the weeks beforehand.
The format allows the top two candidates receiving votes to move forward to the November general election, regardless of party, meaning Garvey may have an edge as the only declared Republican candidate.
The RealClearPolitics polling average shows Schiff leading the field after having received the coveted endorsement of House Speaker emerita Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).
He currently sits in first place with 25% of likely Golden State voters supporting him, according the most recent survey by Emerson College.
Garvey is close behind him at 18% support, followed by Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.) at 8% and Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) at 3%.
Porter and the other Democratic candidates zinged Garvey during the debate for declining to state whether he would support Trump in the 2024 election.
“What they say is true: Once a Dodger, always a Dodger,” Porter said. “This is not the minor leagues. Who will you vote for?”
The candidates are running for the seat held by longtime Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who died last September at the age of 90.