A Democratic congressman accused one of his Republican colleagues of committing treason on Wednesday as the fallout over the contents of text messages sent by members of Congress aligned with former President Donald Trump around January 6 continues.

       Rep Ruben Gallego of Arizona, one of the several states where Mr Trump’s false claims of widespread fraud were centred, issued the accusation during an interview Wednesday evening on MSNBC’s Last Word.

       “Look, Jim Jordan is a traitor,” he told presenter Lawrence O’Donnell.

       “He’s a traitor to the Constitution of the United States. He has been a traitor to the Constitution of the United States for quite a while, and now we actually have it in text,” Mr Gallego added.

       Gallego: Jim Jordan is a traitor. He’s a traitor to the constitution of the United States. He has been a traitor to the constitution of the United States for quite a while pic.twitter.com/fzMmQ5z5OA

       — Acyn (@Acyn) December 16, 2021

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       Treason is an extreme accusation to make of any American, especially a congressman. The charge is defined in the Constitution as "levying War against [the US], or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort.” and is punishable by a minimum of five years in prison or much harsher penalties including capital punishment.

       Only a few dozen people have been charged with it in US history; the Constitution also states that, “No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court.”

       The Independent has reached out to Mr Jordan’s office for comment on Mr Gallego’s remarks.

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       Mr Jordan was revealed in text messages released by Mark Meadows to the House select committee investigating January 6 to have been sharing arguments in favour of Mike Pence asserting that Electoral College votes from states where the Trump campaign had baselessly alleged fraud would not be accepted when Congress counted the votes to certify the presidential election.

       That plan never materialised, though it became the operating plan of action for Mr Trump’s inner circle of allies meeting in the Willard Hotel in Washington DC in the weeks leading up to the attack on the Capitol.

       A number of top Trump aides and advisers involved in the Willard Hotel “command center” have faced subpoenas from the January 6 committee, which has seen many witnesses cooperate under subpoena while others including Mr Meadows have defied the committee’s requests under argument of executive privilege.

       The claims that records from Mr Trump’s White House are protected by executive privilege are likely to be decided by the Supreme Court after a federal appeals court blocked the former president’s request to halt the release of information to the committee.