President Trump on Monday questioned whether the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Representative Adam B. Schiff, should be arrested for treason for his description of a phone call Trump had with the president of Ukraine during a recent congressional hearing.

A day earlier, Trump called for Schiff — the California Democrat who is the de facto head of an impeachment inquiry into the call — to be “questioned at the highest level for Fraud & Treason”.

Trump has accused Schiff of lying to Congress when Schiff summarised a portion of what Trump said to President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine during a July 25 phone call. Trump asked Zelensky to “do us a favour” and investigate Democrats — a request Democrats say is an abuse of power for personal gain. They have started an impeachment inquiry.

Trump has defended his part of the conversation as “perfect”, and focused on Schiff’s public retelling of the call, which the President suggested was mischaracterised.

Trump pointed to Schiff’s summary of portions of the exchange between the President and Zelensky and how they veer from the reconstructed transcript of the call released by the White House.

During a House Intelligence Committee hearing on Thursday, Schiff addressed a portion of the reconstructed transcript and introduced his summary of it saying, “Shorn of its rambling character and in not so many words, this is the essence of what the President communicates.”

Then, Schiff summarised Trump’s comments and said: “We’ve been very good to your country, very good. No other country has done as much as we have, but you know what, I don’t see much reciprocity here. I hear what you want. I have a favour I want from you, though.”

The summary appears to be drawn from several portions of the call, including statements from Trump to Zelensky.

“The US has been very very good to Ukraine,” Trump told Zelensky. “I wouldn’t say that it’s reciprocal necessarily because things are happening that are not good but the US has been very very good to Ukraine.” And later, the President said, “I would like you to do us a favour though because our country has been through a lot and Ukraine knows a lot about it.”

On Sunday, Trump said of Schiff in a Twitter post, “His lies were made in perhaps the most blatant and sinister manner ever seen in the great Chamber.” Trump continued, “He wrote down and read terrible things, then said it was from the mouth of the President of the United States.” Schiff did not respond to a request for comment.