Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) took a swipe at Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) on Tuesday after he appeared to mistake the Iowa Hawkeyes women's basketball team for the NBA's Atlanta Hawks during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing with former special counsel Jack Smith.
In a post on X, Klobuchar wrote, "Before calling someone a 'dirtbag,' the Senator should have had his facts straight. An apology is in order." She added, "Glad one of us knew the difference between the Atlanta Hawks and the Iowa Hawkeyes!"
During the hearing, Schmitt pressed Smith on whether he had attended a Feb. 3, 2024, game between the Atlanta Hawks and the Golden State Warriors in Atlanta. Smith denied being there, but Schmitt claimed to have texts from Smith's staffers indicating otherwise. Schmitt then called the longtime prosecutor a "dirtbag."
The game in question—which Atlanta won 141-134—occurred the day after Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis (D) admitted to a relationship with Nathan Wade, the lead prosecutor in her office's election interference case against former President Trump.
Smith said he did not recall traveling to Atlanta during that period and did not meet with Willis, a scenario Schmitt raised. "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. I definitely did not go to a Hawks game," Smith said.
Smith then recalled attending a University of Maryland women's basketball game against the University of Iowa, which featured star guard Caitlin Clark. Iowa won that contest 93-85, with Clark scoring 38 points on her way to sweeping National Player of the Year honors for the second consecutive year.
Klobuchar interjected during Schmitt's questioning, noting there "might be confusion" given the similarity between "Hawks" and "Hawkeyes." She later said, "And I would just say, for a U.S. senator to have false information and imply, based on a confusion about the name of a team, which I knew, knowing my Midwestern sports, and imply that you were in another city that you were somehow involved that day in what was happening in Georgia and then call you a dirtbag is something that deserves an apology."
The exchange quickly drew attention on social media, with critics pointing to Schmitt's apparent mix-up as emblematic of broader Republican efforts to discredit Smith's investigations. The hearing was part of the Judiciary Committee's ongoing scrutiny of Smith's probes into Trump's handling of classified documents and efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
Klobuchar, a senior member of the committee, has frequently used her platform to fact-check colleagues and highlight what she describes as partisan theatrics. Her latest rebuke underscores the sharp tensions that have defined recent congressional hearings involving Trump-era investigations.
