‘So Embarrassing’: Watch GOP Senator's Attempt to Corner Trump Prosecutor Jack Smith Implode in Real Time
"I think people should have their facts straight before they accuse someone of being a dirtbag," said US Sen. Amy Klobuchar.
Sen. Eric Schmitt faced instant ridicule on Tuesday after his attempt to catch former special counsel Jack Smith in a perjury trap imploded.
During a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Schmitt asked Smith, who in 2023 indicted President Donald Trump in two separate criminal cases, whether he had attended a professional basketball game in Atlanta between the Atlanta Hawks and the Golden State Warriors on February 3, 2024.
Smith replied that he did not attend such a game on that date.
Shortly after, Schmitt asked Smith if he had ever met with Fulton County, Georgia District Attorney Fani Willis—who also indicted Trump and several alleged coconspirators for their attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election—during his tenure as special counsel.
Smith again replied that he had not.
A phenomenal moment in the Senate.
Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., claims he has evidence Jack Smith went to a HAWKS game in Atlanta.
Smith denies it.
Schmitt declares he has busted Jack Smith for perjury.
Smith, vexed, says he went to HAWKEYES game in Maryland.
Watch the whole thing: pic.twitter.com/J07o5Uwfxi
— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) September 29, 2026
"What would you say," Schmitt continued, "if I had a series of text messages from your team that said you were in Atlanta at a... game on February 3, 2024?"
Smith was then shown a poster displaying text messages between people on his team making references to Smith attending some kind of basketball game, though there was no mention anywhere in the displayed texts about the game taking place in Atlanta.
"I think you've already perjured yourself," Schmitt told the former special counsel.
After answering additional questions about his investigations into Trump, Smith asked if he could more thoroughly address the claim made by Schmitt that he attended a basketball game in Atlanta, where it was implied that he met up with Willis to share information about their respective cases against Trump.
"I recall going to a University of Maryland basketball game where [former Iowa college basketball star] Caitlin Clark was playing right around that time," he said. "You can check if that was the exact date, it was Maryland playing Iowa, I think, February of 2024."
Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) helpfully pointed out that the name of the Iowa college basketball team is the Hawkeyes, which is a similar name to the Atlanta Hawks.
Klobuchar then addressed Schmitt and chided him for the personal insults he'd lobbed at Smith during earlier questioning.
"I think people should have their facts straight," she said, "before they accuse someone of being a dirtbag, and not get the teams wrong."
Critics were quick to pile on Schmitt's apparent blunder.
"Schmitt should have to reimburse the public for the cost of printing out these posters," wrote Drop Site reporter Ryan Grim in a social media post. "This is so embarrassing."
ABC News' Jonathan Karl criticized Schmitt for flashing a poster featuring the texts in front of Smith and then quickly removing it from view before he could examine it.
"This was bizarre," wrote Karl. "I have never seen 'evidence' introduced so quickly and then hidden."
Chuck Todd, former host of NBC News' Meet the Press, called Schmitt's line of questioning "a disaster," and said the Missouri Republican suffered from "confirmation bias virus."
Columbia Journalism School professor Bill Grueskin predicted big trouble for any Senate staffer who may havd fed Schmitt faulty information about Smith attending an Atlanta Hawks game.
"I would give up a third of my 401K—make that half of it—to watch Senator Schmitt chew out the aide who came up with this scheme to entrap Jack Smith," Grueskin wrote.
Journalist Julian Sanchez reflected on the fact that someone as seemingly bumbling as Schmitt is one of just 100 people in the country who have been elected to serve in the US Senate.
"It’s somehow more depressing," wrote Sanchez, "that our constitutional order is being dismantled by people who demonstrably cannot find their own asses with both hands."
