During a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Republican Senator Eric Schmitt accused special counsel Jack Smith of perjury regarding attendance at an Atlanta Hawks basketball game on February 3, 2024. However, it became evident that Schmitt had mistaken the Hawks for the Iowa Hawkeyes, and Smith confirmed he was instead in Maryland to watch a University of Maryland versus Iowa Hawkeyes game. Senator Amy Klobuchar verified Smith’s account, criticizing Schmitt's mix-up as misleading.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-09-29,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., accused former special counsel Jack Smith on Tuesday of committing perjury when he denied having attended a specific Atlanta Hawks basketball game in 2024 — to Smith’s apparent confusion.
asserted
he → accuse → confusion
The attempted trick play happened during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Smith’s now-scuttled investigations into President Donald Trump.
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play → attempt → Trump
But it soon emerged that Schmitt had the wrong team.
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Schmitt → emerge → team
“Did you go to an NBA game between the Golden State Warriors and the Atlanta Hawks on Feb. 3, 2024?” Schmitt asked.
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Schmitt → go → Feb.
“What city would that be in?” a confused-looking Smith replied.
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Smith → look → city
“Atlanta,” Schmitt responded.
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Schmitt → respond → ?
“No,” Smith responded.
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Smith → respond → ?
Schmitt pressed him again about whether he was in Atlanta on that date and then said he’d give him some “context” — it was the day after Fani Willis, the district attorney of Fulton County, Georgia, “came clean” about her romantic relationship with a prosecutor in her then-pending criminal case against Trump.
“The next day were you in Atlanta?” Schmitt continued.
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Schmitt → press → Atlanta
“I do not believe so,” Smith responded.
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Smith → believe → ?
“I definitely did not go to a Hawks game.
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I → go → game
I’m sure of that.”
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I → ’m → that
Schmitt then asked whether he ever met with the local prosecutors in Atlanta.
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he → ask → Atlanta
“No,” Smith said.
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Smith → say → ?
“What would you say if I had a series of text messages from your team that said you were in Atlanta, at a Warrior-Hawks game, on Feb. 3, 2024, the day after Willis and [Nathan] Wade announced their affair?”
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Willis → say → affair
Schmitt continued as a staffer held up a poster board that had three text messages about Smith’s going to an event.
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Smith → continue → event
The staffer quickly took the poster down as Smith looked on, appearing confused.
“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.
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Schmitt → take → yourself
Smith complained that it had been taken down too quickly and that he hadn’t gotten to look at it.
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he → complain → it
“I think you’ve already perjured yourself,” Schmitt told him, adding later that he’d go down in history as “a total dirtbag.”
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he → think → dirtbag
Smith said the only game he remembered going to around that time was a University of Maryland basketball game against the Iowa Hawkeyes featuring star player Caitlin Clark.
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game → say → Clark
You could check if that was the exact date,” Smith said.
uncertain
Smith → check → ?
The next questioner was Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., who had checked the date of the game Smith referred to.
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Smith → check → game
“We have confirmed that, in fact, you are right, Mr. Smith.
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you → confirm → fact
Iowa, the Iowa Hawkeyes, played Maryland on Feb. 3, 2024.
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Iowa → play → Feb.
Iowa won, and Caitlin Clark scored over, scored 30 points,” and the game was in Maryland, she said.
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she → win → Maryland
She also chided Schmitt for appearing to mix up the Hawks and the Hawkeyes.
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She → chide → Hawks
“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, that you were somehow involved that day in what was happening in Georgia and then call you a dirtbag is something that deserves an apology,” Klobuchar said.
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Klobuchar → say → apology
Schmitt didn’t apologize.
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Schmitt → apologize → ?
Asked by NBC News afterward whether he still thought Smith had perjured himself, he said: “We’ll find out.
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We → ask → himself
That’s going to be up to a prosecutor to determine.
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That → go → prosecutor
My job here today was to ask questions and get answers.”
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job → ask → answers
Despite the flub, some right-wing commentators and outlets praised Schmitt for the exchange.
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commentators → praise → exchange
Pro-Trump influencer Benny Johnson posted on X that Schmitt “CAUGHT Jack Smith perjuring himself” and “pulled out the receipts.”
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Schmitt → post → receipts
The post appeared to have been taken down by the late afternoon.
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post → appear → afternoon
Schmitt later went on “The Charlie Kirk Show,” where one of the hosts praised him for the “great moment.”
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one → go → moment
“Good for you on that,” host Andrew Kolvet said.
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Kolvet → say → that
“Gotta give you some flowers for that, sir,” he said, saying Smith “sat there acting dumbfounded and completely clueless.”
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Smith → got → that
“It was the only NBA or NCAA men’s game going on at that time in Atlanta.
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It → go → Atlanta
He claimed later that he was at another game,” Schmitt responded.
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Schmitt → claim → game
“Here’s the thing — my job is to ask the questions.
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job → ’ → questions
If that’s what his answer is, that’s what his answer is.”
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answer → ’ → ?
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