Donald Trump has called for the resignation of the Democrat who chairs the committee that will lead impeachment proceedings.

Democrat Adam Schiff had parodied the president’s call, leading to Mr Trump accuse the former federal prosecutor of lying and fraud.

On Thursday, Mr Schiff chaired a hearing where Congress questioned acting national intelligence director Joseph Maguire over his handling of the whistleblower’s complaint – claims which prompted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to begin impeachment proceedings against Mr Trump on Tuesday.

Mr Schiff, who has said the president sounded like a “mafia boss” during a call with new Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy, is planning on bringing the whistleblower who brought the complaint against Mr Trump in front of the intelligence committee.

In other developments:

• Mr Trump accused the whistleblower of being “close to a spy” and suggested they had engaged in treason, which is punishable by death
• He suggested the inquiry will prevent presidents from speaking to foreign leaders
• US media has reported the whistleblower is a CIA officer who once worked at the White House
• Nancy Pelosi accused the president of using taxpayer’s money to “shake down” a foreign power
• She also accused attorney general William Barr of “going rogue”

The hearing came on the same day the complaint was released, following the release of a rough transcript of Mr Trump’s call with the Ukrainian president.

The whistleblower, who was not present for the call, wrote White House officials tried to “lock down” the call between Mr Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

In the July call, Mr Trump repeatedly asked for an investigation into the Ukrainian business dealings of Joe Biden and his family.

Mr Biden, one of the president’s political rivals, is a former vice president and the Democrat frontrunner for the 2020 election.

As part of the call, Mr Trump said he would get his personal lawyer, former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, and the attorney general to call Mr Zelenskiy.

By attempting to get American law enforcement directly involved, Mr Trump personally tried to use the government to act on a politically motivated investigation. This is the first time there has been evidence of such behaviour.

Mr Schiff read out an exaggerated version of Mr Trump’s call on Thursday.

He said: “I have a favour I want from you and I’m going to say this only seven times, so you better listen good. I want you to make up dirt on my political opponent, understand? Lots of it, on this and on that.”

He later clarified “My summary of the president’s call was meant to be at least, part, in parody. The fact that that’s not clear is a separate problem in and of itself.”

Tweeting on Friday, Mr Trump accused Mr Schiff of “fraudulently read to Congress… a version of my conversation with the President of Ukraine that doesn’t exist”.

The president added: “He was supposedly reading the exact transcribed version of the call, but he completely changed the words to make it…. sound horrible, and me sound guilty.

“HE WAS DESPERATE AND HE GOT CAUGHT.”

Mr Trump accused Mr Schiff of attempting to “defraud the American Public” and lying to Congress.

He added: “I am calling for him to immediately resign from Congress based on this fraud!”

The row comes as US media reports that the whistleblower is a CIA officer who once worked at the White House, and Mr Trump has hinted he would be in favour of harsh punishment.

In an audio recording released by the Los Angeles Times, Mr Trump has accused the whistleblower of being “close to a spy” and implied he would be in favour of a death penalty for the person who passed the information to the complainant.

He said: “I want to know who’s the person, who’s the person who gave the whistleblower the information? Because that’s close to a spy.

“You know what we used to do in the old days when we were smart? Right? The spies and treason, we used to handle it a little differently than we do now.”

Impeachment is a two-stage process that can lead to the removal of the US president. It is a rarely used power.

Mr Trump has denied allegations of wrongdoing and the Ukrainian president has denied he was pressured by his US counterpart.

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