Adam Schiff tells CNN he took Trump’s Guatemala remarks as ‘veiled threat’ against him

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said Wednesday that he interpreted a remark by President Trump a day earlier as a “veiled threat” against him.

Trump had said Tuesday, during a news conference with Guatemala’s president, that he believed it was unfair that Schiff couldn’t be prosecuted over his conduct during the impeachment inquiry, adding that Guatemala has a “tougher” judicial system.

“When you have a guy like shifty Schiff go out and make up a statement I made – He said this is what I said but I never said it, he totally made it up,” Trump said. “In Guatemala, they handle things much … tougher than that and because of immunity … he can’t be prosecuted.”

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Schiff told CNN’s Dana Bash he took the comments very seriously.

“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 – We used to execute traitors and spies,” Schiff said. “This is not a president above threatening anyone who gets in his way.”

He said Trump’s undertone was a reference to Guatemala’s “violent history.”

“He is not going to intimidate me,” Schiff added.

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Schiff said he isn’t the first or last person who will be threatened by the president, but stressed it’s the kind of behavior “Americans should not accept in the Oval Office.”

The House voted to impeach the president Wednesday.