Bill Maher put Adam Schiff in an uncomfortable spot during the latest episode of Real Time with Bill Maher, and it was actually quite amazing… and telling.
The moment started when Maher read a legal justification from the Trump administration defending the president’s authority to use military force in Iran when it serves the national interest.
Maher read the statement aloud: “The president had the constitutional authority to direct the use of military force because he could reasonably determine that such use of force was in the national interest.”
Maher then asked Schiff a simple question, “That’s too vague for you?”
Schiff didn’t hesitate. “Totally vague,” he replied.
There was just one problem. It wasn’t a statement from the Trump administration justifying bombing Iran.
“Okay, ’cause that’s from Obama… about Libya,” Maher told Schiff.
It was a humiliating moment for the California senator, and it proved how Democrats don’t legitimately oppose Trump on the merits of policy; it’s just a reflex.
And so, Schiff is trying to dig himself out of the hole he has just dug for himself. Maher had highlighted a fact Democrats rarely like to acknowledge: presidents from both parties have relied on sweeping claims of executive authority when launching military operations, and Democrats seem to think that only Democrats have that authority.
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Schiff tried to steer the conversation away from the obvious comparison and toward another example involving Barack Obama. His answer came out in fits and starts as he searched for a way to reframe the issue.
“Well, Obama made the argument, um, initially that he could go into Syria without an authorization,” Schiff said. He then attempted to position himself as part of the internal resistance to that argument. “I, and many others, pushed back on that argument.”
Schiff continued, trying to emphasize that Obama ultimately stepped back from military action in Syria against the regime of Bashar al-Assad after chemical weapons attacks on civilians. “Ultimately, he did not go forward with going after Assad even though Assad was gassing his own people, because he thought he might lose the vote in Congress,” Schiff said.
He then rushed to praise Obama’s decision, clearly eager to move the conversation onto safer ground, again, not talking about Libya.
“I respect the fact that that was important to him, and the fact that he did not have the support of Congress meant that we weren’t gonna go forward,” he added.
Adam Schiff falls right into Bill Maher’s trap as he criticizes a statement he thought was from Trump but was actually from Obama.
— The Vigilant Fox 🦊 (@VigilantFox) March 7, 2026
MAHER: “This statement from the administration: ‘The president had the constitutional authority to direct the use of military force because he could… pic.twitter.com/5jg3wpdAQZ
The problem for Schiff remained obvious. Maher had already exposed the contradiction and hypocrisy. The same kind of legal reasoning Democrats now condemn under Trump appeared in black and white during both the Obama years and the Biden years, and they never had any problem with either bombing other countries without congressional approval.
Maher exposed the double standard in a matter of seconds. Schiff tried and failed to explain his way around it.
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