Adam Schiff calls out Trump’s Guatemala threats: ‘A reference to violence -- but he won’t intimidate me’

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) believes President Donald Trump made a violent threat toward him, but he vowed to continue holding him accountable for his misconduct in office.

The president suggested Schiff should be punished for paraphrasing his phone call with Ukraine's president, saying "in Guatamala they handle things much tougher than that," and the California Democrat perceived that as a threat.

"I think that's what he intended it to be," Schiff told CNN as he headed toward the House impeachment debate. "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."

Schiff did not believe that Trump simply wanted him thrown in jail for exaggerating his comments to Ukraine's president.

"No, I think the undertone is very much a reference to Guatemala's violent history," Schiff said, "but look, he's not going to intimidate me, and thankfully, we have courageous public servants come and testify who were not intimidated by him either. They did their constitutional duty, I'm going to do mine. I took an oath as well."

Schiff again clarified that he believes Trump was calling for violent retribution against him, which he said only underscored why the president must be impeached.

"I think it was deliberately designed to be a threat," he said, "and this is the president's modus operandi. I'm not the first person he made a threat about, I won't be the last. This is precisely the kind of conduct that Americans should not accept in the Oval Office. He has so debased that office with his threats and his temper tantrums, but more to the point, he has sacrificed our national security by withholding military aid from an ally at war so that he could get help in cheating in the next election. That's what brings us to this day."