California Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff experienced a career-defining moment during Monday’s senate debate, when he was called out by Republican candidate Steve Garvey.
Garvey might have retired from professional baseball, but that didn’t stop him from hitting a serious slugger into the heart of Schiff’s political career Monday, as they faced off for the late Dianne Feinstein’s open seat. During one of his rebuttals, shared on Twitter, Garvey turned to Schiff and said, “I think you’ve been censured for lying.”
The silence only hung in the air for a moment, but it felt like an age. “I was censured for standing up to a corrupt president,” Schiff said, gasping like a fish out of water as Garvey spoke over him. Garvey was given the space to continue, calling out Schiff and his colleagues for never listening to the American public while trying to divide us down arbitrary demographic lines.
Then, in what could have been a non-moment, Schiff decided to step back up to the plate.
Adam Schiff gets called out during the CA Senate debate by Republican Steve Garvey for lying about Russian collusion:
Garvey: “I believe you were censured for lying.”
Schiff: “I was censured for standing up to a corrupt president”
Garvey: “Sir, you lied to 300 million people… pic.twitter.com/tqv4YD2kZZ
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) January 23, 2024
“I was just called a liar by Mr. Garvey,” Schiff said, reiterating the myth that he was censured for standing up to former President Donald Trump. “And you know something, I would do it all over again!” As Schiff launched into a really moist tirade against Republicans, Garvey waited patiently, looking like he was trying not to laugh. (RELATED: Gavin Newsom Can’t Stop Watching Fox News Even Though He Thinks It’s ‘Literally Bullsh*t’)
“Sir, you lied to 300 million people, you can’t take that back,” Garvey casually replied, anointing Schiff with a label he may carry for the rest of his life. Schiff will likely always be known as a man who “lied to 300 million people” and was censured in 2023 regarding his actions around allegations Trump colluded with Russia during his 2016 presidential campaign. This one sentence by Garvey summarizes the situation perfectly, and just rolls off the tongue.