In a series of Twitter messages posted on Sunday, President Donald Trump ripped into House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, accusing him of treason.
Trump began the Twitter thread by saying that he wants to meet the White House whistleblower — the person who filed an anonymous complaint telling the United States Congress that the commander-in-chief is using the power of his office to dig up dirt on a political opponent.
“Like every American, I deserve to meet my accuser,” the president began, accusing the whistleblower of purposefully misrepresenting his conversation with the Ukrainian president.
The whistleblower, according to Trump, “represented a perfect conversation with a foreign leader in a totally inaccurate and fraudulent way.”
The commander-in-chief then took aim at Schiff, accusing the top Democrat of distorting his words, and misrepresenting the transcript of the Ukraine phone call.
“He wrote down and read terrible things, then said it was from the mouth of the President of the United States,” Trump said of Schiff, proceeding to accuse the top Democrat of treason.
“I want Schiff questioned at the highest level for Fraud & Treason,” he wrote.
Trump added that he also wants to meet the person who “illegally” supplied the intelligence community whistleblower with damaging information, accusing the individual of spying.
“Big Consequences!” he concluded.
For days, Trump has been attacking Schiff and calling for his resignation. Apparently upset with Schiff’s opening statement during Acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire’s Thursday testimony, the president has been relentlessly attacking the Democrat.
According to CNN ‘s fact check, Schiff made a number of misleading claims during his opening statement, seemingly misquoting Trump, and exaggerating the contents of the transcript. As the publication notes, the way in which the top Democrat made the remarks was confusing for viewers.
Schiff was later criticized for his behavior and accused of misrepresenting the Trump-Ukraine conversation, but he defended himself saying that his remarks had “meant to be at least part in parody.”
Side note: Adam Schiff’s decision to open the hearing with a fictional account of Trump’s call with the Ukrainian president was a bad idea and has already been used by two Republicans to criticize him. Here’s video of how Schiff framed things: pic.twitter.com/eURjf6grDL
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 26, 2019
Earlier this week, as previously reported by The Inquisitr , the House of Representatives launched a formal impeachment inquiry into Trump. The decision came following allegations made by an anonymous whistleblower, who accused Trump of leveraging the power of the presidency to damage a political opponent’s campaign.
According to the whistleblower, Trump pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden’s son Hunter by threatening to withhold military aid unless his request was fulfilled. A transcript of the Trump-Zelensky call has been released, and it corroborates the whistleblower’s claims, according to impeachment advocates.
Trump and his allies have strongly pushed back against the accusations, accusing the Democratic Party of embarking on another “witch hunt” meant to damage the president.