Jan 25:
"CBS News reported last night that a Florida Man confidant said that key senators were warned, 'Vote against the president and your head will be on a pike,'" Schiff said. "Now, I don't know if that's true."
He equated his "head on a pike' comment to how kings treated those considered traitors to their country.
Schiff said he was struck by the irony, adding "We're talking about a president who would make himself a monarch."
His comment drew immediate blowback from Republicans.
Maine Sen. Susan Collins, a key moderate Republican who could be a crucial swing vote in the impeachment fight, broke her vow of silence on the floor.
"That's not true," Collins said several times from her seat, loudly enough to be overheard by reporters sitting in the upper level of the chamber.
She was also seen shaking her head several times in apparent frustration at the his comments.
"Not only have I never heard the 'head on the pike' line, but also I know of no Republican senator who has been threatened in any way by anyone in the administration," she later told reporters.
Another key potential swing vote, Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, also hit back at Schiff for his rhetoric, calling it "unnecessary."