During a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday, as former special counsel Jack Smith defended his investigations of President Donald Trump, Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., appeared to confuse the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks with the Iowa Hawkeyes women’s college basketball.
During the hearing, Smith faced scrutiny from several lawmakers, including Schmitt, who accused him of attending a basketball game Smith said he never attended.
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Atlanta Hawks vs. Iowa Hawkeyes
Schmitt suggested Smith had been in Atlanta in 2024 and raised the possibility that he was there in connection with Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.
He claimed Smith attended a Warriors-Hawks game one day after Willis acknowledged a relationship with Nathan Wade, the lead prosecutor in her office’s case over Trump’s efforts to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election results.
Smith denied attending the game. Schmitt, who called Smith a “dirtbag” during the hearing, continued pressing him.”
“What would you say if I had a series of text messages from your team that said you were in Atlanta at a Warriors-Hawks game on February 3rd, 2024, the day after Willis and Wade announced their affair?” Schmitt asked Smith. “I don’t think you know that we have this stuff. So, I’ll give you a second to process it, so you don’t perjure yourself.”
Turns out, Schmitt appeared to have the wrong Hawks.
Smith said he was at an Iowa Hawkeyes women’s basketball game against Maryland that day — in Maryland, not Atlanta.
“It’s possible I flew through the Atlanta airport on the way to Florida, but I do not have a recollection of going to Atlanta,” Smith said. “I definitely did not go to a Hawks game.”
Klobuchar calls for apology
Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., criticized Schmitt over the exchange and called for an apology Tuesday.
“Before calling someone a ‘dirtbag,’ the Senator should have had his facts straight,” Klobuchar wrote. “An apology is in order.”
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