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Adam Schiff declares Senate bid, paving way for potential continued Jewish representation from California
WASHINGTON (JTA) — One Jewish Democrat wants to replace a fellow Jewish Democrat as California senator.
Rep. Adam Schiff, who rose to prominence during Donald Trump’s presidency as one of the top critics of the former president, announced a Senate run on Thursday. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who is 89 and was first elected to the seat in 1992, has yet to announce she is retiring, but insiders say it is increasingly difficult for her to handle the job.
Schiff, a solid pro-Israel Democrat who gets consistent backing from mainstream pro-Israel political action committees, led the first set of impeachment proceedings against Trump. As the focus of Trump’s ire, the former president bestowed on Schiff a number of insulting nicknames, some unprintable. One of them, “Shifty Schiff,” drew accusations that Trump was peddling an antisemitic trope.
Schiff, 62, took aim at Trump in a statement announcing his run.
“We’re in the fight of our lives for the future of our country,” Schiff said. “Our democracy is under assault from MAGA extremists, who care only about gaining power and keeping it. And our economy is simply not working for millions of Americans, who are working harder than ever just to get by.”
Another California Democrat in the House of Representatives, progressive Katie Porter, has also declared for the 2024 Senate race. Like Porter, Schiff says that a Senate run requires time, and that he cannot afford to wait until Feinstein makes her decision.
“We need to start preparing for the fights ahead right now,” Schiff, a formidable fundraiser who has deep ties among Jewish and pro-Israel donors, said in a donor email after his announcement.
Schiff is well known in his Los Angeles district for championing the cause of Armenians and their quest to have the 1915 massacres in Turkey labeled a genocide. His district has a substantial Armenian-American population, but he once explained another motive, having to do with his support for Israel. “I know what it’s like to be part of a people with affinity for a distant country,” he once told an Armenian-American newspaper.
Schiff was until recent weeks the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. As chairman of the committee from 2019 through 2022, he led some of the most damaging investigations of Trump. He succeeded in impeaching Trump in the House for the former president’s efforts to get Ukraine to investigate Biden in exchange for defense assistance. (The Senate would then acquit Trump.)
The new House speaker, Kevin McCarthy, this week used his privilege to block Schiff and another prominent anti-Trump Democrat, California’s Eric Swalwell, from rejoining the committee.
After serving as mayor of San Francisco, Feinstein became the country’s first Jewish woman in the Senate in 1992. Once a reliable centrist pro-Israel voice, she became a critic of some of Israel’s military tactics in the 2000s.
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Exclusive: Israeli Officials Harshly Critical of Steve Witkoff’s Influence on US Policy on Gaza, Iran, i24NEWS Told
US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, Washington, DC, Jan. 20, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Carlos Barria
i24 News – Amid growing disagreements with the Trump administration over the composition of the Board of Peace for Gaza and the question of a strike on Iran, officials in Israel point to a key figure behind decisions seen as running counter to Israeli interests: Special Envoy Steve Witkoff.
The officials mention sustained dissatisfaction with Witkoff. Sources close to the PM Netanyahu told i24NEWS on Saturday evening: “For several months now, the feeling has been that envoy Steve Witkoff has strong ties, for his own reasons, across the Middle East, and that at times the Israeli interest does not truly prevail in his decision-making.”
This criticism relates both to the proposed inclusion of Turkey and Qatar in Gaza’s governing bodies and to the Iranian threat. A senior Israeli official put it bluntly: “If it turns out that he is among those blocking a strike on Iran, that is far more than a coincidence.”
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EU Warns of Downward Spiral After Trump Threatens Tariffs Over Greenland
European Union flags flutter outside the EU Commission headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, on June 17, 2022. Photo: Reuters/Yves Herman
European Union leaders on Saturday warned of a “dangerous downward spiral” over US President Donald Trump‘s vow to implement increasing tariffs on European allies until the US is allowed to buy Greenland.
“Tariffs would undermine transatlantic relations and risk a dangerous downward spiral. Europe will remain united, coordinated, and committed to upholding its sovereignty,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and EU Council President Antonio Costa said in posts on X.
The bloc’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas said tariffs would hurt prosperity on both sides of the Atlantic, while distracting the EU from its “core task” of ending Russia’s war in Ukraine.
“China and Russia must be having a field day. They are the ones who benefit from divisions among allies,” Kallas said on X.
“Tariffs risk making Europe and the United States poorer and undermine our shared prosperity. If Greenland’s security is at risk, we can address this inside NATO.”
Ambassadors from the European Union’s 27 countries will convene on Sunday for an emergency meeting to discuss their response to the tariff threat.
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Israel Says US Gaza Executive Board Composition Against Its Policy
FILE PHOTO: Displaced Palestinians shelter at a tent camp in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, January 14, 2026. REUTERS/Haseeb Alwazeer/File Photo
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said on Saturday that this week’s Trump administration announcement on the composition of a Gaza executive board was not coordinated with Israel and ran counter to government policy.
It said Foreign Minister Gideon Saar would raise the issue with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
The statement did not specify what part of the board’s composition contradicted Israeli policy. An Israeli government spokesperson declined to comment.
The board, unveiled by the White House on Friday, includes Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan. Israel has repeatedly opposed any Turkish role in Gaza.
Other members of the executive board include Sigrid Kaag, the U.N. special coordinator for the Middle East peace process; an Israeli‑Cypriot billionaire; and a minister from the United Arab Emirates, which established relations with Israel in 2020.
Washington this week also announced the start of the second phase of President Donald Trump’s plan, announced in September, to end the war in Gaza. This includes creating a transitional technocratic Palestinian administration in the enclave.
The first members of the so-called Board of Peace – to be chaired by Trump and tasked with supervising Gaza’s temporary governance – were also named. Members include Rubio, billionaire developer Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.