As the impeachment witch hunt hearings star Wednesday, House Intelligence chairman Adam “Shifty” Schiff has threatened House Republicans in regards to the widely known whistleblower’s identity. In a memo to congress, Schiff sent a warning that he would retaliate if anyone used the hearings to “out” the whistleblower even though his name is already widely known and reported.

Schiff’s strongly worded statement said, no one should “threaten, intimidate, or retaliate against the whistle-blower,” which includes using his real name. For anyone who does, Schiff threatened he would convene a House Ethics Committee investigation into anyone he deems has done things that are “encompassing violations of law and abuses of one’s official position”.

This tough talk from the man President Trump has dubbed “Shifty” Schiff is a clear attempt to protect the “whistleblower” who many believe is working with or for the Democrats in providing a complaint about a phone call that he himself had no firsthand knowledge of. It is also designed to intimidate Republican lawmakers into not being able to bring up the whistleblowers political history and conflicts of interest.