You’ve probably already seen the clip. Senator Eric Schmitt thought he had Jack Smith cornered.
During the September 29 Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Schmitt asked the former special counsel if he had attended an Atlanta Hawks Golden State Warriors game in Atlanta on February 3, 2024.
Smith said no. Schmitt insisted. There was some back and forth until Smith said he didn’t remember going to a Hawks game and that he wasn’t in Atlanta except maybe passing through the airport.
That’s when Schmitt sprung what he believed to be his trap. He claimed to have received text messages showing Smith at a “Warrior Hawks game” and warned him to think carefully so as not to “perjure” himself.
There was a significant problem. Smith had attended a basketball game that day. It wasn’t in Atlanta. It was at the University of Maryland, where Caitlin Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes were playing Maryland. Hawkeyes, not Hawks.
University of Maryland records confirm that Iowa played Maryland at the XFINITY Center in College Park on February 3, 2024. Clark scored 38 points in front of a crowd of 17,950.
The factual failure made headlines. But this risks distracting from the more important question: What exactly did Schmitt think he was proving, even if he had been right?
The real target
Listen to Schmitt’s questioning. After asking if Smith was in Atlanta, he immediately brought up Fulton County Prosecutor Fani Willis and Nathan Wade. “The day before,” Schmitt said, Willis had admitted his relationship with Wade, whom he called “the Atlanta prosecutor who was also trying to catch Trump.”
Schmitt then asked Smith if he ever met Wade or Willis while he was special counsel. Smith’s answer was simple: “No.”
Sequence matters. The goal wasn’t just to get Smith into a basketball game. The idea was to place him in Atlanta the day after Willis’ revelation, which would then imply possible coordination between the federal and Georgian files.
CNN reported the interrogation in similar terms, noting that Schmitt appeared to try to link Smith to Willis and suggest coordination.
This is the part that deserves attention. Even if Schmitt’s basketball research had been perfect, what would he have established? This Jack Smith was in a town of about half a million people. Being in Atlanta would not prove that Smith met Willis. That wouldn’t prove they spoke. This would not prove that their offices were coordinated. This would not prove a conspiracy against Donald Trump. At most it would prove geography. And Schmitt didn’t even have one.
Start with the conclusion
The exchange shows how quickly Schmitt moved from location to insinuation. The theory required these steps: Smith attended a basketball game. The match took place in Atlanta. Willis works in Atlanta. Therefore, Smith’s presence could implicate Willis. From there, we must move on to coordination against Trump. This jump is huge.
Schmitt went from “Atlanta” to “Fani Willis” because the insinuation was the real product. His audience was not the courtroom. This is the right-wing media ecosystem that operates on suggestion rather than evidence.
The perjury warning
Schmitt did not treat this question as a casual question. He told Smith he had evidence that Smith apparently didn’t know about, then said, “I’m going to give you a second to process it so you don’t perjure yourself, you know.”
One senator publicly suggested that a former federal prosecutor might commit perjury based on evidence that Schmitt had not sufficiently vetted to distinguish the Atlanta Hawks from the Iowa Hawkeyes.
Smith calmly responded that he remembered a University of Maryland game in which Caitlin Clark played. Senator Amy Klobuchar then stated the obvious. The trap has disappeared.
Even if Schmitt had been right
This is the question that should remain. Grant the premise. Let’s say Jack Smith is in Atlanta on February 3, 2024. What happens?
No proof he ever met Fani Willis. No proof he met Nathan Wade. No email. No text. No calendar entries. No witnesses. No meeting minutes. No communication between the two prosecution teams showing coordination.
Schmitt switched from “Atlanta” to “Fani Willis” because the innuendo carries weight. Insinuation is not proof. Two people in the same town do not prove they met. Two prosecutors looking at related behavior don’t become conspirators because someone can imagine a conversation.
The biggest failure
The Hawkeyes’ confusion is worth remembering. Schmitt’s larger failure was more serious than a sporting error.
He was prepared to accuse a witness of perjury and link two prosecutors on a chain of inferences where the first factual link was wrong and the remaining links had never been established.
The most important question remains: Why did a senator believe that putting Jack Smith in the same town as Fani Willis would prove anything? Even if Eric Schmitt had the Hawks right, he still would have faced the same problem. Where was the evidence of the conspiracy he insinuated?
The billboard and warning for perjury produced theater. They did not produce any evidence.
Sources
- United States Senate Judiciary Committee — “Oversight of Jack Smith’s Abuse of Authority and Targeting of Republicans and Related Issues,” September 29, 2026
https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/committee-activity/hearings/oversight-of-jack-smiths-abuse-of-authority-and-the-targeting-of-republicans-and-rated-matters - HuffPost — Coverage of Senator Eric Schmitt’s questioning of Jack Smith and the Hawks/Hawkeyes confusion
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/news-anchor-eric-schmitt-ditched-show-jack-smith-hearing_n_6abfc13ee4b02a789b355ff2 - Round — Transcript of Jack Smith’s testimony, including Schmitt’s questions about Atlanta, Fani Willis, Nathan Wade and the basketball game
https://www.rev.com/transcripts/jack-smith-testimony - CNN — Transcription and coverage of the Schmitt-Smith exchange
https://transcripts.cnn.com/show/acd/date/2026-09-29/segment/01 - University of Maryland athletics – Official score of the Iowa vs. Maryland game, February 3, 2024, confirming that the Iowa Hawkeyes played Maryland that day
https://umterps.com/sports/womens-basketball/stats/2023-24/iowa/boxscore/16548 - Associated Press — Background on Fani Willis, Nathan Wade and the Georgian Prosecutor’s Office
https://apnews.com/article/493165c4614761d4b965923696134c09
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