WASHINGTON, Sept 30 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump

on Monday escalated his attacks against the lawmaker leading the

impeachment inquiry against him, suggesting that Representative

Adam Schiff be arrested for "treason."

The comment is likely to inflame criticism of Trump's

handling of the scandal engulfing his presidency, stemming from

a telephone call in which Trump asked Ukraine's President

Volodymyr Zelenskiy to investigate Democratic rival Joe Biden

and his son.

The telephone call was included in an intelligence officer's

whistleblower complaint that raised concerns about whether the

president sought to leverage U.S. aid to Ukraine for a political

favor.

"Rep. Adam Schiff illegally made up a FAKE & terrible

statement, pretended it to be mine as the most important part of

my call to the Ukrainian President, and read it aloud to

Congress and the American people. It bore NO relationship to

what I said on the call. Arrest for Treason?" Trump wrote in a

post on Twitter.

Trump appeared to reference statements made by Schiff during

a hearing held by the House Intelligence Committee, of which

Schiff is the chairman. Schiff said his remarks parodied Trump's

comments on the call with Zelenskiy.

The Republican president has increasingly lashed out at

political opponents since House Democrats announced on Tuesday

they would pursue an impeachment inquiry.

He likened the whistleblower and White House officials who

gave information to the whistleblower to spies and suggested

they committed treason.

The inspector general for the director of national

intelligence deemed the whistleblower complaint credible and

urgent, while the top U.S. intelligence officer said the

whistleblower acted in good faith.

(Reporting by Makini Brice and Doina Chiacu; Editing by

Catherine Evans and Chizu Nomiyama)