Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) on Tuesday pushed back against criticism over his questioning of former special counsel Jack Smith, insisting that his role in the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing was to ask questions, even if some details got scrambled.
During the contentious session, Schmitt pressed Smith about a February 2024 trip to Atlanta, asking whether the former prosecutor had attended an NBC-televised game between the Hawks and the Golden State Warriors. The exchange quickly unraveled when it emerged that Schmitt had confused the NBA's Hawks with the Iowa Hawkeyes, the college team that Smith had actually watched.
“We had information, of course, about him being at a basketball game,” Schmitt told Nexstar affiliate KTVI St. Louis. “The only NBA game going on that night was in Atlanta on Feb. 2 of 2024. His team had talked about that. He answered the question.”
“My job is to ask the questions, and his job is to answer the questions,” he added, framing the mix-up as a minor distraction in a broader effort to scrutinize Smith's conduct.
The Missouri Republican accused Smith of misleading lawmakers in previous testimony, though he conceded that Smith's response about the game “is what it is.” With a wry smile, Schmitt noted one point of agreement: “I guess the one thing that Jack Smith and I can maybe agree on is that we're a fan of college sports and college basketball.”
Schmitt's line of inquiry was tied to his claim that Smith traveled to Atlanta to meet with Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis (D), who had brought racketeering charges against President Trump and 18 others in 2023 over alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia. Those charges were later dropped. During the hearing, Smith said he did not recall being in Atlanta during that period and denied meeting with Willis. Schmitt's staff then displayed a poster board purportedly showing text messages between Smith and Willis, but it was quickly removed, adding to the confusion.
The episode drew reactions from other senators, including Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), who later confirmed that Smith had indeed attended an Iowa Hawkeyes game in Maryland where Caitlin Clark played. Klobuchar noted the final score and Clark's 30-point performance, and suggested that Schmitt owed Smith an apology.
Schmitt, however, remained unapologetic. In an interview with TMZ, he repeated his defense, saying, “It's not a mistake. I asked him if he was in Atlanta. The only NBA game going on – actually, the only NCAA men's game or NBC game with a 7:30 tip-off was in Atlanta, so I asked him if he was in Atlanta that night.” When pressed with evidence that Smith was at the Hawkeyes game, Schmitt responded, “For that night? Great. Well, then he was at the Hawkeyes game. I just asked him if he was in Atlanta.”
The hearing, which was part of a broader GOP effort to scrutinize Smith's handling of investigations into President Trump, also saw Schmitt label Smith a “villain” and a “dirtbag” by the end of his questioning. The mix-up, however, threatened to overshadow the substantive exchanges, drawing attention to the senator's preparation and focus.
This incident comes amid heightened partisan tensions over the Justice Department's probes into Trump, with Republicans accusing Smith of political bias and Democrats defending his integrity. The hearing also coincided with other developments, including the Trump administration's push for an AI portal and health summit, which added to the day's political backdrop.
Despite the embarrassment, Schmitt doubled down on his approach, suggesting that the focus should remain on Smith's actions rather than the senator's verbal slip. “I asked him if he was in Atlanta,” Schmitt reiterated. “He answered. That's what matters.”
