Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO), who went from obscurity to late-night punchline after his “gotcha” attack on former special counsel Jack Smith collapsed, has pulled out of a scheduled TV appearance as embarrassing details about the episode keep surfacing, according to the Daily Beast.
Schmitt tried to bait Smith into perjuring himself during a contentious Senate hearing Tuesday, grilling him over claims he attended a Feb. 3, 2024, basketball game between the Golden State Warriors and Atlanta Hawks — an attempt to tie Smith to the Atlanta-based criminal investigation into President Donald Trump led by prosecutor Fani Willis. The move “backfired spectacularly.”
Dasha Burns, who hosts “Ceasefire” on C-SPAN and also works for Politico, revealed in a preview of Friday’s episode that Schmitt backed out of an appearance alongside Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE), the Beast reported.
“Now, we should mention that Sen. Schmitt was supposed to appear on this program with Sen. Coons, but he pulled out a day after that hearing,” Burns alerted her viewers.
In his place, Burns will instead be joined by Democratic attorney Bob Bauer, Republican attorney Ben Ginsberg, Democratic strategist Joel Payne and Republican strategist Doug Heye to discuss legal battles over voting rights and election administration.
Schmitt had already tried to minimize the fallout in a CNN interview Tuesday, insisting his line of questioning was grounded in solid information. “We had information he was at a basketball game,” Schmitt said. “There was only one NBA game that night, at 7:30 tip-off, which is why I asked him if he was in Atlanta.” The explanation has done little to stem the mockery, as Schmitt continues facing scrutiny over how his staff arrived at the botched claim in the first place.
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