WATCH: Adam Schiff Stumbles When Confronted With Obama’s Statements On War Powers

HBO host Bill Maher caught Senator Adam Schiff (D-CA) off guard when he confronted him with statements attributed to President Donald Trump, which were actually made by former President Barack Obama.

Schiff joined Friday’s episode of “Real Time” to discuss the ongoing conflict in Iran. Schiff, like most of his Democrat colleagues, has claimed that Trump “illegally” launched the war and has supported a failed War Powers Resolution aimed at stopping the president from conducting operations.

During the panel segment, host Maher raised questions about the scope of executive power in military decisions. This led to an exchange where Maher presented a statement attributed to “the administration” regarding presidential authority.

“This statement from the administration, The President had constitutional authority to direct use of military force because he could reasonably determine that such use was in national interest. That’s too vague for you?” Maher asked, to which Schiff responded with, “Totally vague.”

Maher then revealed the source of the quote. “Okay cause thats from Obama about Libya,” he followed up.

The quote originated from the Obama administration’s 2011 justification for U.S. intervention in Libya, where airstrikes were conducted as part of a NATO-led operation to protect civilians amid the civil war against Muammar Gaddafi. The Obama White House argued that the action did not constitute “hostilities” under the War Powers Resolution, thus not requiring prior congressional authorization.

Adam Schiff falls right into Bill Maher’s trap as he criticizes a statement he thought was from Trump but was actually from Obama.

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 Vigilant Fox 🦊 (@VigilantFox) March 7, 2026

After the revelation, Schiff attempted to clarify his position by referencing another instance.

“Well Obama made an argument initially that he can go into Syria without authorization I and many others pushed back on this argument,” the senator said. “Ultimately he did not forward with going after Assad even though Assad was gassing his own people because he thought that might lose the vote in congress. But I respect uh… that was important to him and the fact he did not have support of Congress meant we weren’t going forward,” he continued, completely side-stepping the unilateral action ordered by Obama in Libya.

The exchange comes just days after a War Powers Resolution attempting to end the president’s ability to conduct military operations failed to advance out of committee last week. All Democrats with the exception of Senator John Fetterman (D-PA) voted against the resolution, while Senator Rand Paul (R-KY), one of the measure’s co-sponsors, was the lone Republican vote in favor.

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