Trump brands impeachment inquiry a 'coup' as House holds third day of public hearings

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President Trump branded House Democrats' impeachment inquiry a "coup" and "charade" in an apparent rebuke of the way they were handling a public hearing on Capitol Hill Tuesday.

His attack came hours into a contentious House Intelligence Committee hearing where administration officials testified about Trump's now-infamous phone call with Ukraine in July.

In a video posted to Twitter, the Trump campaign indicated the committee's chairman, Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., led a coup that Democrats plotted after his election in 2016.

"This impeachment is a charade," a narrator said alongside a video of Schiff. It pointed to a tweet from Mark Zaid -- the lawyer for the whistleblower who reported that call -- in which he claimed that a "coup has started."

"That's right. The whistleblower's own lawyer wrote that the coup has started and that impeachment will follow," the narrator said. "They promised a coup and now they're trying to carry it out. The Democrats are trying to overthrow President Trump, undo the 2016 election, and silence our voices. Don't let them."

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The video echoed the administration's previous criticisms and touched on a concern raised about Zaid's impartiality.

The campaign video was referring to a 2017 tweet in which Zaid responded to Trump's criticism of Sally Yates, a former DOJ official whom the president accused of betraying her department after she famously told employees not to defend the president's travel ban.

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Zaid also tweeted predictions that Trump would face impeachment. "Johnson (1868), Nixon (1973), Clinton (1998) impeachment hearings. Next up @realDonaldTrump (2017)," he said in a 2017 tweet.

“Those tweets were reflective and repeated the sentiments of millions of people," Zaid told Fox News in November. "I was referring to a completely lawful process of what President Trump would likely face as a result of stepping over the line, and that particularly whatever would happen would come about as a result of lawyers. The coup comment referred to those working inside the Administration who were already, just a week into office, standing up to him to enforce recognized rules of law.“