Schmitt’s Atlanta basketball claim unravels at Jack Smith hearing

Sen. Eric Schmitt accused former special counsel Jack Smith of lying to Congress on Tuesday after Smith denied attending an Atlanta Hawks game in 2024. Minutes later, Smith identified a different game he said he had attended that day: a University of Maryland matchup against the Iowa Hawkeyes.

The exchange came during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Smith’s investigations into President Donald Trump. Schmitt, a Missouri Republican, asked whether Smith had gone to an NBA game between the Golden State Warriors and the Hawks in Atlanta on Feb. 3, 2024.

“What city would that be in?” Smith asked before Schmitt specified Atlanta. Smith said he had not attended a Hawks game and did not believe he had been in Atlanta that day. “I definitely did not go to a Hawks game. I’m sure of that,” he said. He also denied meeting with Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis or other local prosecutors.

Schmitt linked his questions to Willis’ criminal case against Trump and her acknowledgment the previous day of a romantic relationship with prosecutor Nathan Wade. A staffer briefly displayed a poster board showing text messages from Smith’s team. Schmitt asked what Smith would say if the messages placed him at the Warriors-Hawks game in Atlanta.

“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,” Schmitt said. Smith objected that the board had been taken down before he could read it. Schmitt said he thought Smith had already perjured himself and later told him, “You will go down as a total dirtbag.”

When Smith got a chance to examine the display, he said he remembered attending a Maryland women’s basketball game against Iowa featuring Caitlin Clark around that time. “The Marshals Service was there with me,” he said, suggesting its records could help verify the date.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat who questioned Smith next, said Iowa had played at Maryland on Feb. 3, 2024, and won 93-85. She suggested Schmitt had confused the Hawks with the Hawkeyes and said his accusation and insult deserved an apology.

The text messages did not name an Atlanta game in the portion examined by Talking Points Memo. The outlet reported that a message from Smith deputy J.P. Cooney asked whether “109 Row 1” was reserved for Jack. According to Talking Points Memo, seating maps show rows in section 109 of Atlanta’s State Farm Arena use letters, while Maryland’s Xfinity Center has a section 109 with numbered rows. The Warriors and Hawks did play in Atlanta that evening, the outlet reported.

Schmitt did not apologize. Asked afterward by NBC News whether he still believed Smith had committed perjury, he said, “We’ll find out. That’s going to be up to a prosecutor to determine. My job here today was to ask questions and get answers.” He later defended his questioning on “The Charlie Kirk Show,” saying his job was to ask questions and Smith’s answer was his answer.