Missouri U.S. Sen. Eric Schmitt is facing an avalanche of criticism for accusing former Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith of attending an NBA game in Atlanta — when Smith actually watched an Iowa Hawkeyes game in Maryland — to try to connect Smith to an investigation of President Donald Trump.
And while Schmitt is trying to defend himself as someone who is just asking relevant questions, his critics contend the viral moment is another example of Republicans engaging in performative politics to gain favor of President Donald Trump.
Smith served as a Department of Justice special counsel who investigated Trump over retaining classified documents and the president's role in trying to overturn his loss in the 2020 election. Smith testified on Tuesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee, where he faced particularly harsh questions from Republicans.
During the hearing, Schmitt pointedly asked Smith if he had attended an NBA game between the Golden State Warriors and the Atlanta Hawks, mainly to see if he also met with Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis while in Atlanta. Willis had pursued charges against Trump related to illegally overturning his loss in Georgia. She announced on Feb. 2, 2024, that she had a "personal relationship" with Nathan Wade, the lead prosecutor in the case.
When Smith said he never met with Willis during his time as special counsel, Schmitt then asked, "What would you say if I had a series of text messages from your team that said that you were in Atlanta at a Warrior-Hawks on Feb. 3, 2024, the day after Willis and Wade had announced their affair?" Schmitt's staffers then quickly showed a poster illustrating the text messages. Democrats on the committee objected that Smith wasn't given time to examine the content of the poster.
When Minnesota Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar started asking Smith questions, he said that he went to a game between the Iowa Hawkeyes and Maryland Terripans in Maryland. He said that he wanted to see star Iowa player Caitlin Clark play. Klobuchar then demanded that Schmitt apologize to Smith, especially since the Missouri senator called him a "dirtbag" after questioning him about whether he went to an NBA game.
"I think people should have their facts straight before they accuse someone of being a dirtbag and not get the teams wrong," Klobuchar said.
"I stand by that statement," Schmitt interjected.
"You have the teams wrong, sir," Klobuchar rebutted.
The entire exchange drew widespread media coverage and went viral on various social media platforms. Illinois Democratic U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, slammed Schmitt's line of questioning.
"Jack Smith deserves an apology for these baseless and FALSE accusations of perjury by my Republican colleague," Durbin wrote on X.
Schmitt's office did not immediately respond to several requests for comment from St. Louis Public Radio, including about whether he plans to apologize to Smith. Hours after the hearing, Schmitt posted on X: "Who knew Jack Smith was a Caitlin Clark fan?" When asked about the exchange by a reporter for TMZ, he defended his line of questioning.
"We asked him if he was at a basketball game that night, the only NBA game that was going on that night was in Atlanta. So I asked him if he was there," Schmitt told TMZ's Charlie Cotton. "Jack Smith is not credible. He gave his answer, and I guess that's his answer."
Missouri reaction
Some of the sharpest criticism of Schmit came from Democratic political figures from Missouri who contended the exchange with Smith showcased how unserious he is as a legislator.
Former U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill sent out several tweets on Tuesday mocking Schmitt for mixing up the Atlanta Hawks and Iowa Hawkeyes — especially when he's spent a significant amount of time as a senator trying to pass legislation aimed at reorganizing college sports.
"Quit blaming his staff. No real US Senator would present that information without double checking the facts," McCaskill said on X. "He owns this, not his staff."
Trump has often railed against the investigations against him during his time out of office as "witch hunts," which Democrats say is a deflection from the evidence that he might have committed serious crimes.
"Missouri had Long, Symington, Eagleton, Danforth, Talent, Bond, Blunt, McCaskill as United States Senators," said former Democratic state Rep. Chris Kelly of Columbia on X. "Now it has Schmitt and Hawley. What a tragic decline in both talent and ethics."
University of Missouri-St. Louis political science professor Anita Manion said the Schmitt stumble may illustrate the perils of lawmakers trying to create viral moments.
Manion said Schmitt went into the hearing likely with an "enthusiastic feeling like he had the smoking gun and he was going to be the headline story of the hearing — which he was, but I don't think in the way that he envisioned."
"I think the aggressive posturing on top of just being wrong amplified the misstep and is now part of why it's being discussed nationally," Manion said.
On the same day as the Judiciary Committee hearing, Axios released an article about how Schmitt could be considered as Vice President JD Vance's running mate if he runs for president in two years. Manion said that while she doesn't think Schmitt's political stock is in jeopardy in Missouri, she added that his future national ambitions might have taken a hit.
"The role of a vice president is often seen as a, you know, attack dog, but when you're running for vice president you usually need to do it in an error-free way, and so I think he fell short there," Manion said.
Another Missouri senator's misstep
Schmitt's decision to not apologize or retract his line of questioning brings to mind another controversy involving a Missouri senator.
During a 2007 PBS interview, then-U.S. Sen. Kit Bond evoked immense criticism when he appeared to compare waterboarding to swimming. When he sought to clarify his remarks, he didn't attack PBS or throw his staff under the bus — but instead conceded that he didn't "finish his thought" while he was being interviewed.
Manion said Schmitt's decision not to admit that he made a mistake with his line of questioning is actually drawing more attention to the mistake.
"Getting a fact wrong or misspeaking is ordinary. We all do that," Manion said. "But when you continue to insist there was no mistake, saying you still think the witness is lying — you're telling people that you'd rather protect yourself, your image, and your performance than get to the facts and the truth."
Copyright 2026 St. Louis Public Radio
