Sen. Eric Schmitt is going viral for tense back-and-forth over Trump’s pardon
U.S. Sen. Eric Schmitt on Sunday accused TV host George Stephanopoulos of spewing “Democrat talking points” after repeatedly sidestepping questions about his support for President Donald Trump’s controversial pardon of a former president of Honduras.
Video clips of the tense exchange on Stephanopoulos’ show “This Week” have circulated widely on social media, including from Schmitt’s own account. The polarizing Missouri Republican’s appearance has been celebrated by some conservative commentators and faced criticism for his refusal to answer the question.
Schmitt’s terse answer came in response to a question about whether he supported Trump’s Dec. 1 pardon of Juan Orlando Hernández, the former president of Honduras who was sentenced last year to 45 years in prison for his role in a drug trafficking operation.
“Do you support this pardon of the former Honduran president?” Stephanopoulos asked Schmitt during the Sunday morning appearance.
Schmitt, in response, said he was “not familiar with the facts or circumstances.” The senator then launched into a full-throated defense of Trump’s approach to drug smuggling, including the administration’s highly criticized use of boat strikes in the Caribbean Sea.
Stephanopoulos again pressed Schmitt on the pardon and questioned how the Republican senator was not aware of the issue.
“What do you mean you’re not familiar with the facts and circumstances of the pardon?” Stephanopoulos said. “It’s been well-reported all across the country.”
Schmitt, who dodged the question again, turned his attention to Stephanopoulos and claimed that the TV host did not offer similar pushback to a previous guest.
“I’m curious about your pushback on that particular point,” Schmitt said. “With your previous guest, you had zero pushback because he’s giving the Democrat talking points like you spew every single week, which is probably why your ratings are so bad.”
It’s unclear which ratings Schmitt was referring to, but an ABC News press release from October showed that Stephanopoulos’ show ranked No. 1 in total viewers on Sunday, Oct. 19.
The Republican senator shifted back to the Trump administration’s handling of drug smuggling, claiming that a majority of Americans “support us blowing narco terrorists out of the water in the Caribbean.”
Stephanopoulos, for a third time, pressed Schmitt on whether he supported Trump’s decision to pardon the former president, asking: “do you support the pardon of the convicted drug smuggler or not?”
Schmitt sidestepped the question again and attempted to change the conversation to drug smuggling.
“George, like I said, what we’re talking about here are the narco terrorists poisoning Americans,” Schmitt said. “This attempt to try to focus on a pardon is classic, because you’ve lost the debate now on the narco terrorist question.”
Spokespeople for Schmitt’s office did not immediately respond to questions about the exchange on Monday.
But the Republican senator’s comments follow a playbook utilized by Trump and some Republicans in Missouri. Schmitt and his Missouri colleague in the U.S. Senate, Sen. Josh Hawley, have often used social media and other outlets to attack journalists and others they perceive as being unfair.
Those efforts are often supercharged in connection with Trump as Missouri Republican officials routinely boast close ties with the Trump administration. Schmitt previously served as a key Trump campaign surrogate before becoming a vocal ally for the Republican president.
