Senator Eric Schmitt thought Jack Smith was dead.
Smith, the former Justice Department special counsel, testified Tuesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee about his role in the investigation into Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Schmitt, a Trump loyalist, wanted to entrap him in a complex web of alleged lies and collusion with Georgia officials, who were also investigating the president.
Schmitt’s main piece of evidence: Smith’s attendance at an Atlanta Hawks game in Georgia a day after Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis admitted to a relationship with a member of her team. There was only one problem. Smith never attended the game. Instead, as a stunned judicial committee eventually discovered, he attended an Iowa Hawkeyes game against Maryland that same day.
The arc of this absurd little drama was incredible to watch unfold.
“Did you go to an NBA game between the Golden State Warriors and the Atlanta Hawks on February 3, 2024? Schmitt began, believing he was inciting Smith to perjure himself.
Smith was confused, however. He said he doesn’t even remember being in Atlanta while he was investigating Trump, except maybe in transit through the airport.
Schmitt started licking his lips. “I don’t think you know we have this thing, so I’ll give you a second to process it so you don’t perjure yourself,” he says triumphantly, while displaying a giant blown-up photo of two text messages for a few seconds.
“You just took it out real quick, if I could see it again,” Smith said, perplexed.
“I think you’ve already perjured yourself,” Schmitt says, as the hearing begins to unfold. Amy Klobuchar gets involved, making sure Smith can read the text exchange that Schmitt quickly displays. Smith finally realizes what is happening, telling Klobuchar that he attended a game between the University of Maryland and the University of Iowa because Caitlin Clark was playing.
Klobuchar then realizes the confusion and smiles. “Could it then be that the University of Iowa is the Hawkeyes? Could that be the case?”
Schmitt then explodes, completely losing his advantage over Klobuchar by trying to “rehabilitate the witness.” After some heated back and forth, Klobuchar thrusts the dagger in. “From Minnesota State, where we have the Gophers, there’s not a lot of confusion, there’s not a lot of professional teams with those names.”
Someone off-camera eventually gets Klobuchar the full receipts, and she lays it all out for the record, noting the date of the game — February 3, 2024, of course — and the score, and noting that Caitlin Clark scored 30 points.
“I would just say that a United States senator has false information and to imply, based on a mix-up of the name of a team — that I knew, knowing my Midwest sports — and insinuate that you were in another city, that you were somehow involved in that day in what was happening in Georgia and then calling you a garbage bag is something that deserves an apology,” Klobuchar says, driving each point home.
Schmitt really only has himself to blame. It’s clear that Schmitt thought he was going to land a big blow on behalf of the Trump administration in a punitive investigation that would lend any credibility to Trump’s fantastical claims that Smith’s initial investigation into him was politically motivated. Earlier in the hearing, he even attacked Smith for committing the crime of taking notes.
“I have a feeling your testimony will be read back to you at future hearings,” Schmitt began smugly. Smith jotted down a note in response. “I’m just curious, what are you writing there?”
“I’m sorry?” Smith responds. “It doesn’t matter,” Schmitt said.
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