Sen. Eric Schmitt Caitlin Clark photo via Reese Strickland-USA TODAY Sports
By Kevin Harrish on
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Former special counsel Jack Smith is facing testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee this week as he defends his previous federal investigations into United States President Donald Trump. It’s a high-profile public hearing of national intrigue, but it took a wild turn on Tuesday when a Republican Senator falsely accused him of perjury and called him a “dirtbag” over the mistaken identity of Caitlin Clark’s college team, the Iowa Hawkeyes.

The scene broke out as Republican Sen. Eric Schmitt questioned whether Smith had attended a game between the Atlanta Hawks and the Golden State Warriors, which he believed could link him to Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and special prosecutor Nathan Wade, who were both involved on the prosecution side of the Georgia election interference case against Trump.

As it turns out, Schmitt was confusing the Atlanta Hawks with the Iowa Hawkeyes, where women’s basketball sensation Caitlin Clark was playing at the time.

‘Were you in Atlanta?’

The bizarre scene began when Schmitt asked Smith if he had attended an NBA game between the Atlanta Hawks and the Golden State Warriors in Atlanta on Feb. 3, 2024.

“I have no recollection of that,” Smith said, looking very confused by the question.

Schmitt then asked if Smith was in Atlanta on that date, as Smith continued to look dumbfounded.

“Let me give you a little context,” Schmitt said. “The day before, Fani Willis came clean with her affair with the prosecutor. You know, the Atlanta prosecutor that was also trying to get Trump? The next day, were you in Atlanta?”

Schmitt was referring to the undisclosed romantic relationship between Willis and Wade while managing the 2020 election interference racketeering case against Trump, which caused intense public scrutiny, hearings, and legal challenges.

But Smith continued to insist that he was not there and seemed very confused by the question.

“I do not have a recollection of going to Atlanta,” Smith said, acknowledging that there’s a chance he went through the Atlanta airport on his way to Florida. “I definitely did not go to a Hawks game; I’m sure of that.”

Schmitt then claimed to have a series of text messages from Smith’s team claiming that he was in Atlanta, at a Warriors vs. Hawks game on Feb. 3, 2024 – the day after Willis and Wade announced their affair. He had a member of his team hold up a poster board that he claims is evidence that Smith was indeed in Atlanta and had committed perjury.

“I don’t think you know that we have this stuff,” Schmitt said smugly. “So, I’ll give you a chance to process it so you don’t perjure yourself.”

The poster board was taken down quickly before Smith could actually read it, and Schmitt refused to put it back up.

“I think you’ve already sufficiently answered,” Schmitt said. “We’ll put it in a file so you can respond. I think you’ve already perjured yourself, but.”

Schmitt went on to call Smith a “dirtbag.”

An Embarrassing Mistake

“If this is the correct basketball game, I recall going to a University of Maryland basketball game where Caitlin Clark was playing right around that time,” Smith said. “You can check if that was the exact date. It was Maryland playing Iowa.”

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat from Minnesota, seemed to catch the mistake.

“Could it then be that the University of Iowa is the Hawkeyes?” Klobuchar asked. “That might be the confusion over the names of the team. But perhaps you should have looked at it more carefully.”

When Schmitt pushed back on Klobuchar for trying to offer clarity, she said that she was just “in shock” at the mistake and the audacity to call a witness a “dirtbag” while not having the correct facts in his question.

“When you are calling a witness a ‘dirtbag’ and showing him these things…” she said. “I think that people should have their facts straight before they accuse someone of being a ‘dirtbag’ and not get the teams wrong. You had the teams wrong, sir.”

Schmitt was not willing to apologize for calling Smith a “dirtbag” despite his mistake.

“I stand by that statement,” Schmitt said.

Klobuchar was later able to confirm that Smith was indeed at an Iowa Hawkeyes game watching Caitlin Clark play in Maryland – not a Hawks game in Atlanta.

“The game was, in fact, in Maryland,” Klobuchar 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 and somehow involved that day in what was happening in Georgia and then call you a ‘dirtbag’ is something that deserves an apology,” Klobuchar said.

Clark performed quite well in that game, too, scoring 38 points with 12 assists and six rebounds.

Schmitt Refuses to Apologize

Despite the obvious mistake, Schmitt has seemingly refused to apologize or admit the mistake.

When asked afterward, Schmitt maintained that Smith was a “dirtbag” and defended the completely false premise for his questioning.

“We’re asking if he was in Atlanta on February 3 because there’s text messages about him being at a basketball game, a Hawks game,” he said via Julie Tsirkin of NBC News. “My job here today was to ask questions and get answers.”

Conservative influencers began spreading the video on social media as if it was a “gotcha” moment, ignoring the full context.

To make matters worse, Schmitt went on to appear on The Charlie Kirk Show on RAV, where he went right along with the hosts and as they pretended that he had exposed Smith during the hearing.

“Dang! So you had text messages from his team confirming he was going to a Hawks game, and he sat there acting dumbfounded and completely clueless?” the hosts asked Schmitt.

“It was the only NBA or NCAA men’s game going on at that time in Atlanta. He claimed later that he was at another game,” Schmitt said. “Here’s the thing – my job is to ask the questions. If that’s what his answer is, then that’s what his answer is.”

It seems like everyone was prepared to celebrate the “gotcha” moment, but Schmitt did not have his facts correct, so it all fell flat.

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