'Treason,' 'Civil War,' US President Trump Ramps up Rhetoric on Twitter

Washington: Conspiracy theories, calls to arrest Democrats for treason, ominous warnings about civil war: President Donald Trump, facing the threat of impeachment, is ramping up his bellicose rhetoric on Twitter to a new level.

Trump is lashing out wildly in all directions as the Democratic-led House of Representatives moves ahead with its inquiry into the 73-year-old real estate tycoon for abuse of power. "The Greatest Witch Hunt in the history of our Country!" the president tweeted Monday.

Trump went so far as to suggest that Adam Schiff, the Californian lawmaker heading the impeachment inquiry, be arrested for treason.

Schiff opened a congressional hearing last week with a parody imitation of Trump speaking like a mob boss to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate his potential 2020 White House opponent Joe Biden.

A whistleblower complaint about Trump's July 25 phone call with the Ukrainian leader has led to the opening of the impeachment inquiry in the House.

If Trump is impeached by a simple majority vote in the 435-member House he would face a trial in the Republican-led Senate, where a two-thirds majority would be needed to convict him and remove him from office.

Schiff's impersonation was intended to dramatize his contention that the president was acting like a mafia boss but it has been widely criticized by conservative media.

"It bore NO relationship to what I said on the call," Trump said of Schiff's remarks. "Arrest for Treason?"

Civil War

Trump also raised eyebrows by retweeting comments made by a Baptist pastor, Robert Jeffress, to Fox News in which he warned of the dangers of "civil war" if the president was impeached.

"If the Democrats are successful in removing the President from office (which they will never be), it will cause a Civil War like fracture in this Nation from which our Country will never heal," Trump paraphrased Jeffress as saying.

That tweet by the president drew condemnation from at least one Republican lawmaker, Representative Adam Kinzinger of Illinois.

"I have visited nations ravaged by civil war," Kinzinger tweeted. "@realDonaldTrump I have never imagined such a quote to be repeated by a President. This is beyond repugnant."