Sen. Eric Schmitt stood by his bid to place Jack Smith in Atlanta over text messages about a Hawks game, rejecting any mix-up charge and calling the reference no error.
Missouri Republican Sen. Eric Schmitt told former special counsel Jack Smith during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday that he had “a series of text messages” placing Smith at a “Hawks” game on Feb. 3, 2024. Washington Examiner reported Schmitt insisted he made no mistake and rejected the idea that he confused an NBA contest with a college women’s basketball game.
Schmitt pressed whether the messages meant an Atlanta Hawks NBA game and whether Smith had traveled to Georgia to meet then-Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. The exchange formed part of broader Republican efforts to examine Smith’s work as special counsel.
Smith denied attending any Hawks game or visiting Atlanta in that role. He recalled instead going to a University of Iowa women’s basketball game at Maryland that featured Caitlin Clark on the same date.
Senate Republicans have faced their own internal strains in recent confirmation fights, including when Murkowski broke ranks on a key nomination.
Breitbart detailed how Schmitt bore in with pointed questions on the texts and the alleged Atlanta trip.
Schmitt asked sharply whether Smith’s testimony was that he did not go to a Hawks game on Feb. 3, 2024. He followed up by asking what Smith would say if texts from his team put him in Atlanta at a Warriors-Hawks game.
"So your testimony today is that you did not go to a Hawks game on Feb. 3, 2024. Is that correct?"
Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota then interjected that Schmitt had mixed the Iowa Hawkeyes with the Atlanta Hawks, teams playing hundreds of miles apart. She suggested he should have looked at the details more carefully.
"Could it then be that the University of Iowa was the Hawkeyes? Perhaps you should have looked at it more carefully."
Those same confirmation pressures have shown up when Collins opposed a nominee and forced fresh GOP calculations.
National Review described Schmitt’s performance as a face-plant and said he recklessly accused Smith of lying while calling him a “total dirtbag.” The outlet framed the failed bid to prove a February 2024 meeting with Willis as a collapse in the questioning strategy.
Schmitt still refused to treat the Hawks reference as an error. He maintained the texts supported placing Smith in Atlanta and the related questions about possible contact with Willis.
Similar Senate dynamics have appeared as holdouts complicated nominations and tested party unity on high-stakes posts.
The hearing gave Republicans a public chance to test Smith’s account of his movements while he led the federal cases against Donald Trump. Schmitt used the texts to probe for any coordination with the Georgia prosecutor whose own case had drawn heavy scrutiny.
No full transcript of every text or every reply appeared in the initial accounts. Smith’s denial of the Atlanta Hawks trip and his Iowa game recollection stood as the direct response on the record.
GOP senators have also drawn outside fire in parallel fights, such as when an Epstein survivor criticized Cornyn over a confirmation vote.
Schmitt’s line of inquiry kept returning to the same points: the messages, the Hawks reference, the Feb. 3, 2024 date, and the possibility of a Georgia meeting with Willis. He treated those elements as fair ground for a senator examining a special counsel’s conduct.
Critics focused on the team-name gap between Hawks and Hawkeyes. Schmitt answered that focus by saying the claim itself was not a mistake and by keeping the pressure on Smith’s whereabouts and contacts.
The Judiciary Committee setting fit a longer pattern of intense Senate floor and committee work, including the recent marathon vote session before recess.
Smith’s tenure already carried deep controversy among Republicans who viewed the prosecutions as selective. Schmitt’s questions aimed at one narrow slice of that record: whether the special counsel’s calendar and communications lined up with a trip near Willis.
The senator left the hearing still defending the texts and the Atlanta placement. He gave no ground on the charge that he had simply mixed up two basketball teams.
Special counsels who target former presidents should face hard questions in open session. Team names can be corrected later; the demand for answers cannot.
