Scott Jennings Concedes GOP Senator’s Viral Gaffe Was a ‘Rough Moment’

CNN conservative commentator Scott Jennings admitted that Sen. Eric Schmitt’s (R-MO) brutal flub while questioning former special counsel Jack Smith was a “rough moment.”

Smith testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill Tuesday about his investigations into President Donald Trump, fielding hours of combative questions from Republican senators.

At one point, Schmitt tried to tie Smith to Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis by pointing to text messages that he argued showed Smith attended an Atlanta Hawks game. The attempted “gotcha” backfired when Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) explained Smith had instead gone to an Iowa-Maryland women’s college basketball game, revealing that Schmitt had apparently mixed up the Atlanta Hawks and Iowa Hawkeyes.

Klobuchar went on to admonish Schmitt for not having his “facts straight.”

Jennings joined Tuesday’s edition of CNN’s The Arena, where he was questioned by host Kasie Hunt over the gaffe.

After hearing from fellow panelist Axios‘ Alex Thompson, who argued that Schmitt “face-plant[ed]” in his questioning, Hunt asked, “Scott, would you concur?”

“Rough moment,” Jennings responded bluntly, to laughter from the panel. “And I say that as someone who likes Eric Schmitt very much. I think he’s been a really good politician and senator in Missouri, so obviously, this was a mistake.”

He went on to say that “what Republicans are really talking about” is their claims that Smith’s investigations were “partisan, that this was a dramatic amount of overstepping.”

“So I think legitimate concerns were aired, even if there was a rough moment on the committee today,” Jennings concluded.

His interpretation, notably, differs from that of plenty of MAGA influencers, who attempted to argue — some in now-deleted social media posts — that Schmitt’s misstep was a win for Republicans, despite the Missouri senator receiving widespread mockery on the internet.

Watch above on CNN.

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