A Republican senator was warned that his facts were “unvetted” before his attempt to discredit former special counsel Jack Smith unraveled into a viral gaffe, according to a new report.
During a congressional hearing on Monday, Missouri Senator Eric Schmitt accused Smith of secretly meeting with Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis at an NBA game in Georgia. Both Smith and Willis had overseen investigations into President Donald Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election.
But Schmitt’s allegation rested on an apparent mix-up between the Atlanta Hawks and the Iowa Hawkeyes during the hearing to the visible shock of onlookers.
Prior to the blunder, Schmitt had sought Justice Department material that might establish a link between the two investigations, sources told MS NOW. The request came amid a broader GOP effort to portray the criminal probes into Trump as highly coordinated witch hunts.
Schmitt was later given access to text messages related to Smith. But committee staff “explicitly warned Schmitt's team that the texts were unvetted and that it was their responsibility to verify the information,” the outlet reported.
What followed was an embarrassing moment, broadcast live to viewers across the country.
During his questioning, Schmitt said he had obtained text messages showing Smith attended a Hawks game in Atlanta on February 3, 2024. When Smith appeared confused and said he had not been at the game, Schmitt replied: “I think you’ve already perjured yourself.”
His aides then briefly held up a poster board that appeared to show text messages indicating seats had been reserved for Smith.
Schmitt concluded by calling Smith a “villain” and a “total dirtbag” who “weaponized the Department of Justice against political enemies to an extent that has never happened in the history of this country.”
Soon after, Smith suggested he understood the apparent mix-up. He said he had attended a women’s college basketball game in Maryland around the time frame Schmitt described — Iowa’s Hawkeyes playing the University of Maryland.
Senator Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat, also came to Smith’s defense, criticizing Schmitt for leveling accusations without first verifying the facts.
“That might be the confusion over the names of the team,” Klobuchar said. “But perhaps you should’ve looked at it more carefully.”
“I think that people should have their facts straight before they accuse someone of being a dirtbag and not get the teams wrong,” she added.
Schmitt later said he did not regret his questioning, telling Politico that Smith “has lied before to Congress.”
Smith’s two federal cases against Trump — one involving alleged election interference and the other classified documents — were dismissed after Trump won the 2024 election.
The Georgia case brought by Willis stalled after the Georgia Court of Appeals removed Willis from the prosecution in December 2024, citing the appearance of impropriety stemming from her relationship with a special prosecutor. A subsequent prosecutor ultimately declined to pursue the case.
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