Rep. Adam Schiff Says Trump Tweet About Paying 'A Price' Was Intended As A Threat
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), the House Intelligence chairman and lead impeachment manager, said a tweet from Donald Trump suggesting the lawmaker is yet to have “paid the price” was intended as a threat.
“This is a wrathful and vindictive president,” Schiff said during an interview with “Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd, adding, “I don’t think there’s any doubt about it. And if you think there is, look at the president’s tweets about me today.”
Amid a flurry of Sunday morning tweets bemoaning the impeachment proceedings, Trump ominously alluded to a “price” Schiff will ultimately have to pay for his involvement.
“He has not paid the price, yet, for what he has done to our Country!” Trump tweeted.
Watch Schiff’s response to Trump’s “paid the price” tweet in the clip at top.
Last week, Schiff helmed opening arguments by the House’s impeachment managers ― all of whom are Democrats ― in Trump’s trial before the Senate. Schiff and the six other impeachment managers argued Trump abused the power of his office when he withheld aid from Ukraine to pressure its officials into investigating Trump’s political rivals and pro-Russian conspiracy theories.
In response to Trump’s comments, several social media users and political commentators noted previous instances in which Trump’s followers acted on his malicious tweets by attempting to harm his targets. For example, in 2018, a fervent Trump supporter sent pipe bombs intended for former President Barack Obama, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and a number of other Democrats Trump frequently maligns online.
When asked about Trump’s tweet during a Sunday interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper, Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) said, “I don’t think it’s a death threat.”
Watch the exchange between Tapper and Lankford:
