Boston – The mayor of Salem, Massachusetts, said President Trump needs to "learn some history" after he claimed those accused in the city's infamous witch trials received more due process than he has while facing impeachment.

The trials in 1692 included "powerless, innocent victims" who were "hanged or pressed to death" on scant evidence, Democratic Mayor Kim Driscoll said Tuesday on Twitter.

Twenty people suspected of witchcraft were killed in Salem, a coastal city about 20 miles north of downtown Boston, during a frenzy stoked by superstition, fear of disease and strangers, and jealousy. Nineteen were hanged, and one man was crushed by rocks. The allegations against Mr. Trump, in contrast, are against a powerful world leader and come with "ample evidence" and "admissions of wrongdoing," Driscoll said.

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"This situation is much different than the plight of the witch trial victims, who were convicted using spectral evidence + then brutally hanged or pressed to death," Driscoll wrote in a follow-up tweet. "A dubious legal process that bears no relation to televised impeachment."

Driscoll said comparing the impeachment proceedings to her city's dark legacy is "offensive" to the victims and their descendants.

In this Dec. 16, 2011 photo, Salem Mayor Kim Driscoll speaks in her office at City Hall in Salem. Elise Amendola/AP

In a six-page letter addressed to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Tuesday in which Mr. Trump vented about impeachment, he said, "More due process was afforded to those accused in the Salem Witch Trials."

The Republican faces impeachment for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress over allegations he threatened to withhold military aid to the Ukraine unless that country opened an investigation into former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, who is vying for the Democratic nomination for president in 2020. Mr. Trump maintains it was appropriate for him to ask Ukraine to look into allegations of corruption and denies withholding the aid.

He's also frequently dismissed investigations into his administration as "witch hunts." He used the phrase during Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and the role then-candidate Trump and his campaign may have played.

White House spokespersons didn't respond to an email seeking comment Wednesday.