An accusatory attack on former special counsel Jack Smith by Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO) crashed and burned within moments Tuesday — and Politico was quick to troll the grandstanding Republican for it.
Schmitt's attempt to paint the career prosecutor as a "perjurer" instead outed him as no more than a fan of former Iowa Hawkeyes and current WNBA superstar Caitlin Clark.
During Smith's testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Schmitt asked whether he'd been in Atlanta on Feb. 3, 2024, for an NBA game between the Golden State Warriors and the Atlanta Hawks — an effort to link him to a scandal surrounding Fulton County prosecutor Fani Willis.
"I think you've already perjured yourself," Schmitt told him, before calling him a "total dirtbag."
Smith said he hadn't gone to that game — but he had gone to a different one that same day, catching the Maryland Terrapins host the Iowa Hawkeyes in College Park, Md., where Clark dropped 38 points in a 93-85 Iowa win.
According to Politico, "Schmitt appeared to have misread a text message among Smith's deputies referencing the 'hawks,' who'd discussed reserving him a front-row seat."
"It was Maryland playing Iowa," Smith clarified once he'd reviewed the messages, recalling he'd sat in the crowd flanked by U.S. marshals.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., jumped in to help unravel the mix-up in real time, asking, "Could it then be that University of Iowa's the Hawkeyes?" She later said Schmitt owed Smith "an apology" over the botched attack.
The exchange was the latest flare-up in a combative hearing that saw Republicans repeatedly spar with Smith over his investigations into Donald Trump — this time with a former Big Ten basketball star at the center of the confusion instead of Trump himself.