Former special counsel Jack Smith testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, where Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO) tried to catch him in a perjury trap using a set of text messages — only to mix up the Atlanta Hawks with the Iowa Hawkeyes in one of the hearing's most excruciating moments.
Hawks become "Hawkeyes," perjury charge backfires
Schmitt told Smith he had "a series of text messages" placing him at a "Hawks" game on February 3, 2024. Schmitt suggested this meant an Atlanta Hawks NBA game and pressed Smith on whether he had traveled to Georgia to meet privately with Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who prosecuted Trump. Smith flatly denied it, recalling instead a college women's basketball game in Maryland that day — Iowa's Hawkeyes against the University of Maryland, with Caitlin Clark then on the Iowa roster. Schmitt shot back: "I think you've already perjured yourself."
The texts named no team at all
According to text messages obtained by the Hill from the Department of Justice, the messages Schmitt cited referenced no basketball team whatsoever — only seating reserved for Smith and his staff, including one reading "109 Row 1 reserved for Jack." Schmitt's staff acknowledged they had no texts mentioning Clark. Other reporting said aides had explicitly warned that the texts were unvetted and needed verification, but Schmitt used them anyway.
"Not a mistake," Schmitt doubles down
After the hearing, Schmitt repeatedly denied mixing up the teams. "There's not a mistake," he told reporters. "I asked him if he was in Atlanta. The only NBA game going on — actually the only NCAA men's game or NBA game with a 7:30 tipoff was in Atlanta." He joked to CNN: "Who knew Jack Smith was a Caitlin Clark fan?" He wrapped up his questioning by calling Smith a "total dirtbag."
The cringe goes viral
The stunned face of Sen. Katie Britt (R-AL), seated beside Schmitt as he pressed the point, was caught on camera and became one of the day's most-shared images. Fox News called it the standout gaffe in a rough week for the political class. One commentator quipped that Schmitt had "aborted his 2028 VP odds on live TV." The hearing was meant to be Republicans' report card on Smith's investigation of Trump — but the biggest headline turned out to be the mix-up, drowning out much of the rest of the day's testimony.