The Judiciary Committee Republicans may be worse than those on the Intel Committee

Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) on Wednesday night publicly named a person that some Republicans and allies of President Donald Trump claim is the alleged whistleblower who first brought the Trump-Ukraine scandal to light.

Gohmert identified the person, who POLITICO is not naming, during remarks at a Judiciary Committee meeting on articles of impeachment against Trump. Gohmert named the person as he ticked through a list of witnesses he said the committee should hear from before voting on impeachment.

Gohmert did not identify the person as the potential whistleblower.

  Politico

He didn't have to. They've been tossing the name around on the right-wing megaphone ever since the complaint was filed.

Democrats say any effort to identify the whistleblower could endanger the person's life and chill future whistleblowers from revealing alleged wrongdoing in government.

Which is precisely the Republicans' intent.

Asked by POLITICO about his decision to mention the name of the purported whistleblower, Gohmert said he was simply "naming witnesses to the case."

"I could care less who the whistleblower is," Gohmert said, repeating the name along with the names of two former National Security Council aides as witnesses he wants to hear from.

Repeating it, along with two names people can recognize from their positions.

Asked if he was worried about the appropriateness of identifying the person publicly or whether he might have violated whistleblower protection statutes, Gohmert said, "You need to do your homework."

That's a "no, and fuck you."

House Intelligence Committee Adam Schiff, who led the Ukraine investigation, warned colleagues last month that any attempt by lawmakers to identify the whistleblower could be an ethics violation. He said the whistleblower had a statutory right to anonymity and to be shielded form reprisal — and he said the whistleblower also had the legal right to contact Congress.

And it's a Catch 22, because Schiff can't haul Gohmert up on an ethics violation - which he is certainly guilty of - without admitting that he has indeed named the whistleblower.

"House Republicans just committed an incredible and outrageous breach," tweeted Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.). “The President threatened the whistleblower with violence, and whether the person just named is the whistleblower or not they were just put in real danger. This is unacceptable and there should be consequences."

Exactly. Whether he's the whistleblower or not, they've put him in danger by suggesting he is. Sadly, those are likely to be the only consequences.  Unless the person Gohmert named sues him for endangerment.