Republican Sen. Eric Schmitt of Missouri was already facing ridicule over a failed gotcha moment during his questioning of former Special Counsel Jack Smith. A new report has now made the episode even more embarrassing by revealing that Schmitt allegedly received a warning before charging ahead.

Schmitt displayed a series of text messages during Tuesday’s hearing as he questioned Smith. The senator presented the messages as evidence, but his attempted gotcha quickly turned into a very public flub.

The new wrinkle concerns what Schmitt reportedly knew before he displayed that material. A source familiar with the matter told MS NOW that the senator had been warned in advance that the text messages had not been properly vetted.

That warning is a flashing red light in the account of Schmitt’s performance. According to the report, he proceeded with the messages anyway, proudly putting them on display while questioning the former special counsel.

The sequence described by the report is straightforward and brutal for the Missouri Republican. Schmitt had material he apparently believed would deliver a dramatic moment, received a warning about its lack of proper vetting, and still chose to use it during the hearing.

The source material does not identify who warned Schmitt or explain how the warning was delivered. It also does not provide further details about the text messages themselves beyond the concern that they were not properly vetted before the hearing.

The account likewise does not specify what additional review should have occurred before Schmitt cited the messages. What it does say is that the warning came in advance, giving the senator notice before he displayed the material during his questioning of Smith.

That timing is what transforms an ordinary hearing mistake into a fresh humiliation. Schmitt was not merely caught off guard in the moment, according to the report, because he had allegedly been alerted to the problem before his attempted gotcha fell apart.

Schmitt’s performance had already attracted harsh attention before the new report surfaced. His hometown newspaper tore into his conduct at the Senate hearing, adding a local rebuke to the criticism surrounding his failed exchange with Smith.

The newspaper’s reaction and the MS NOW report address different parts of the same episode. One focused on Schmitt’s performance at the hearing, while the other reported that he knew the evidence he cited had not been properly vetted.

Together, those details make the hearing appearance look less like a spontaneous mistake and more like a decision made despite an explicit caution. The report does not describe Schmitt’s reasoning, so any explanation for why he proceeded remains unstated.

What is clear from the account is that Schmitt wanted the text messages seen. He displayed them proudly while questioning Smith, even though a source familiar with the matter says the senator had already been warned about the lack of vetting.

The attempted gotcha therefore produced the opposite of the forceful hearing moment Schmitt appeared to be seeking. Rather than leaving Smith damaged by the exchange, the episode left the Republican senator facing criticism over his own preparation and judgment.

The latest report does not introduce a new set of messages or a separate hearing dispute. Instead, it adds an advance warning to the existing story of Schmitt’s flub, sharpening the embarrassment surrounding a moment that had already gone badly.

For Schmitt, that is the especially painful part of the disclosure. The warning sign was apparently flashing before the hearing spectacle began, yet the senator still marched into the exchange with material that had not been properly vetted.

His hometown newspaper had already delivered one stinging response to the performance. Now the report that he was warned beforehand leaves the MAGA senator with an even harder question about why he proceeded with his failed gotcha at all.