“The most dangerous place in America, maybe in Washington, is to stand by the exit door at the White House because when you fall out of favor with this president he lops off your head, throws your body in the snow and buries you in vicious tweets,” said Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), the No 2 Democrat, asked about the GOP reaction to the line.

“So the notion that he may be following this, and have some feelings about how people vote is not preposterous,” Durbin added.

Asked about the outrage from Republicans, Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), who won reelection in 2018 in a red state, said Schiff’s comment wasn’t a mistake and that “in some cases people are just looking for excuses.”

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) added in a tweet that Republicans were jumping on the line as a distraction to avoid the substance of the allegations against President Trump.