President Donald Trump broke the law by threatening Rep. Adam Schiff (D-California, 28th District), said University of Alabama law professor and former U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance on Sunday.

It is a federal crime to threaten to assault a federal official in order to impede their performance of their duties, so if any Republicans still think impeachment requires a crime, I’ve got this one for you. https://t.co/GcnnyF07hN — Joyce Alene (@JoyceWhiteVance) January 26, 2020

Vance served as U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama during the Obama administration.

Trump had been complaining about Schiff, the lead House manager of the president’s ongoing impeachment trial.

“Shifty Adam Schiff is a CORRUPT POLITICIAN, and probably a very sick man,” Trump said Sunday. “He has not paid the price, yet, for what he has done to our Country!”

It’d definitely fit a pattern for the president to be accused of inappropriate acts in the midst of an escalating political controversy. He’s being impeached in the first place after asking the Ukrainian president Volodomyr Zelinsky to investigate Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden. Trump allegedly did this as a quid pro quo for military aid.

Schiff said Sunday he saw the president’s statement as a threat.

“I think it’s intended to be,” he said on Meet the Press.

Sen. James Lankford (R-Oklahoma) downplayed the president’s tweet.

“I don’t think it’s a death threat. I don’t think he’s encouraging a death threat” — here’s @SenatorLankford on CNN defending Trump tweeting that Schiff “has not paid the price” pic.twitter.com/ZdXFptCZVS — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 26, 2020

“I think it’s political,” Lankford said. “I think what he’s saying is political. What the president’s saying is [Schiff is] going to be held to a price. And I’m offended only because Adam Schiff believes that the only reason we act the way that we do is because the president’s going to put our head on a pike.”

[Image via Alex Wroblewski/Getty Images]

Have a tip we should know? [email protected]