“I’m not going to take any shit,” Nadler said in a closed-door prep session Tuesday morning — a rare cuss word from the lawyerly Manhattan Democrat that prompted some lawmakers to sit up in their chairs, according to multiple people in the room.

Nadler’s warning shot referred to likely GOP antics to try to undermine the first impeachment hearing in the Judiciary Committee on Wednesday. But it wasn’t lost on Democrats that Nadler’s message could also apply to those in his own party who have closely scrutinized his role in the House’s impeachment probe…

Democrats on the panel insist they aren’t nervous about the first hearing, saying privately that the format has been tightly coordinated with leadership and they don’t expect a slate of constitutional experts to be combative witnesses. But Nadler’s reappearance at the center of the impeachment probe doesn’t come without risks, some lawmakers said.

The panel’s last high-profile hearing in September — featuring a defiant Corey Lewandowski — was widely panned as a disaster. And even before that, many Democrats were privately dismayed about what they saw as juvenile antics on their side, including Rep. Steve Cohen of Tennessee chowing down on a bucket of chicken at the dais after Attorney General William Barr refused to show up to a hearing.