GOP Sen Who Imploded In Spectacular Fashion Touted as Top JD Vance VP Pick Just Hours Before

(AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)

Axios co-founder and CEO Jim VandeHei dropped an awkwardly timed report on Tuesday, detailing Sen. Eric Schmitt’s (R-MO) close relationship with Vice President JD Vance and the early rumblings that Schmitt is on top of Vance’s short list for a 2028 running mate.

VandeHei’s report ran with the headline, “Sen. Eric Schmitt is drawing buzz as a possible Vance VP in 2028,” just hours before Schmitt drew widespread mockery for botching an attack on former Special Counsel Jack Smith during an epic hearing fail.

Schmitt raised eyebrows across the media as he believed he had trapped Smith into committing perjury during the hearing by asking the former prosecutor if he had gone to an Atlanta Hawks game and met with Fulton County DA Fani Willis. Smith said he was not at the game, and it was later understood that Schmitt had confused the Atlanta Hawks with the University of Iowa Hawkeyes.

ABC News’s chief Washington correspondent Jonathan Karl summed up the bonkers exchange, “This was bizarre. I have never seen ‘evidence’ introduced so quickly and then hidden. Senator Eric Schmitt accuses Jack Smith of perjury for denying he went to an Atlanta Hawks game in February 2024. As it turns out, he went to an Iowa Hawkeyes game (in Maryland).”

The hearing fireworks quickly led to VandeHei’s report being seen in a totally different light.

“First-term Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) — who was a tough-on-crime state attorney general, and now is vice chair of the Joint Economic Committee — has grown close to Vice President Vance and is seen as a top prospect to become a potential 2028 running mate,” reported VandeHei, adding:

We hear the VP views Schmitt, 51, as trustworthy, intelligent, articulate and a deft political operator. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is obviously the Trump favorite for Vance’s #2, but he doesn’t seem eager for that role.

Capitol Hill reporter Joe Perticone reshared the Axios report after Schmitt’s implosion and added, “He was riding so high this morning.”

Conservative pundit Benjamin Domenech quipped, “Big Hawkeyes fan.”

Democratic campaign operative Conor Rogers jested, “His own team placed this story thinking they were gonna have a bombshell Jack-Smith-perjury story today lmaoooo.”

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