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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