Rep. Adam Schiff Adam Bennett SchiffSchiff to subpoena top DHS official, alleges whistleblower deposition is being stonewalled Schiff claims DHS is blocking whistleblower's access to records before testimony GOP lawmakers distance themselves from Trump comments on transfer of power MORE (D-Calif.) said recent comments from President Trump Donald John TrumpBiden says voters should choose who nominates Supreme Court justice Trump, Biden will not shake hands at first debate due to COVID-19 Pelosi: Trump Supreme Court pick 'threatens' Affordable Care Act MORE about him constituted a threat.

Trump has railed against Schiff, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, over how the lawmaker characterized a call between the president and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that is at the heart of the House’s impeachment hearings.

“In Guatemala, they handle things much tougher than that,” Trump said Tuesday at the White House while meeting with the Guatemalan president.

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“I think that’s what he intended it to be,” Schiff told CNN Wednesday when asked if the comments were a threat.

“This is a president, after all, who has said of people who blow the whistle on him that they’re traitors and spies and should be treated as traitors and spies used to be treated. We used to execute traitors and spies. So this is not a president above threatening anyone who gets in his way, anyone who stands up to him.”

“He’s not going to intimidate me,” House Intel Chair @RepAdamSchiff tells @DanaBashCNN about comments President Trump made about him yesterday. “…I think it was quite deliberately designed to be a threat.” https://t.co/cEFFEi0bm4 pic.twitter.com/vf9gMstiiq — CNN Newsroom (@CNNnewsroom) December 18, 2019

Schiff said the remarks are unacceptable coming from the president but maintained he will continue to perform his duties as the House votes to impeach the president after an extensive inquiry, which Schiff helped lead from his perch on the Intelligence panel.



“He is not going to intimidate me,” Schiff said. “I think it was quite deliberately designed to be a threat and this is the president’s modus operandi. I’m not the first person he’s made a veiled threat about, I won’t be the last. But this is precisely the kind of conduct Americans should not accept in the Oval Office.”

The House is scheduled to vote Wednesday on two articles of impeachment against Trump: abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. The articles are expected to pass largely along party lines.