JOE SCARBOROUGH (HOST): Well, John Heilemann, it's not like he fumbled the ball up, coughed the ball up on NewsHour or something, under withering cross-examination. He went to friendliest confines with Hannity and made the mistake there. 

JOHN HEILEMANN: Yes, I mean, it makes it all the more galling I'm sure to his collegues. Look, and -- Trey Gowdy seemed to be trying to build a very careful prosecutorial kind of hearing. That's what he's shooting for. As you know, Joe, Republicans tend in these situations to screw up. The don't run public hearings well. They ran the Planned Parenthood hearing horribly. Even conservatives who are sympathetic to the position of being anti-Planned Parenthood looked at the way that they handled Cecile Richards and said, oh my God, this is just another example of Republicans screwing up how you present yourself in the public, how you make your argument, etc. Gowdy was trying to avoid that. And now, McCarthy has, as Al suggested, cast a long shadow over it and raised the bar for what Gowdy's now going to have to do. Anybody on his committee who says anything that seems remotely off-key or politicized is going to get hammered. Again, the bar was always gonna be high, but it's just that much higher now because of Kevin McCarthy. 

Previously:

Hannity Doubles Down: The Phony Benghazi Scandal Committee Fox Built Was “Political”

After Republican Lawmaker Boasts That Benghazi Committee Is Hurting Clinton's Poll Numbers, Hannity Gives Him Credit