Previously obscure Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo. may be headed back to a career as a backbencher after his humiliation during an interrogation of former special counsel Jack Smith on Tuesday.
That was the opinion of House Judiciary Committee ranking member Jamie Raskin, D-Md., who could barely disguise his amusement on CNN over Schmitt's fatal blunder that turned him into a national laughingstock.
Schmitt had asked Smith if he attended a February 2024 NBA game in Atlanta between the Hawks and the Golden State Warriors, an inquiry that drew in other senators and sparked confusion once it became clear Schmitt had mixed up the Atlanta Hawks with the Iowa Hawkeyes.
Speaking with CNN's Erin Burnett, Raskin didn't hold back.
"Look, nobody ever heard of Senator Schmitt before," he said. "And nobody's gonna ever hear of him again. He's basically disgraced himself and identified himself with this ridiculous little stunt where he thought he was going to perform some major service to Donald Trump."
Raskin added that Schmitt's questioning was "all about being the most obsequious sycophant you can be. And he proved that he was."
He went on: "And he doesn't even understand how much that he's utterly humiliated himself in the eyes of the country."
The pile-on has continued to snowball since Tuesday's hearing, with even Schmitt's own attempts to spin the gaffe drawing fresh ridicule rather than sympathy — leaving the once-obscure Missouri Republican facing exactly the kind of national spotlight he clearly wasn't prepared for, Raskin said.