Sen. Eric Schmitt’s fumbled questioning of Jack Smith will go down as a Capitol Hill “classic,” CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins said Tuesday.
The Missouri Republican set out attempting to show that Smith, the former special counsel who investigated Donald Trump, committed perjury. In an effort to link Smith to Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, Schmitt claimed to have proof he attended an Atlanta Hawks game in February 2024.
But Smith did not go to that game, instead attending an Iowa Hawkeyes women’s basketball game in Maryland. Schmitt had mixed up the Hawks with the Hawkeyes.
Schmitt’s colleague, Alabama Sen. Katie Britt, was spotted looking mortified by his error as Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar called him out. Schmitt then left the hearing.
After walking through this four-minute sequence of events, Collins said the drama would be widely remembered.
“It is easily one of the most classic moments in Capitol Hill testimony history,” she said on The Source.
In his research, Schmitt, 51, overlooked the fact that Smith could have been attending a women’s basketball game, CNN reported.
As Schmitt later told CNN, “Who knew Jack Smith was a Caitlin Clark fan?”
“Listen, we had information was at a basketball game. There was only one NBA game that night at 7:30 tip-off, which was why I asked him if he was in Atlanta,” Schmitt said. “He answered the question. So that’s what these hearings are for. You ask questions, you get answers, you know? Jack Smith has perjured himself before, but he says he’s at the game. Maybe he’s a Caitlin Clark fan. We‘ll accept that.”
Yet Schmitt, who called Smith a “dirtbag,” has not apologized.
The senator had just been floated as a potential running mate for JD Vance in 2028, should the vice president launch a candidacy. In an Axios piece, Schmitt was described as “trustworthy, intelligent, articulate and a deft political operator.”
On CNN, Collins discussed Schmitt’s Senate hearing flop with Democratic strategist Paul Begala, who called it “feeble” and “stupid.”
“I‘m glad he did it, OK? Because now we can see what a mental giant Sen. Schmitt is,” he joked. “It’s spectacularly stupid, I have to say. On top of that, having the hearing at all is spectacularly stupid. With 35 days to the election, gas is $4.50 a gallon, diesel is $6.50 a gallon, ground beef is $6.92 a pound, and they’re beating up on Jack Smith and apparently can‘t tell the Atlanta Hawks from the Iowa Hawkeyes. That’s just too much. If you thought that people wanted change and were sick of Republicans before this hearing, they‘re going to be a lot more sick of them after.”
Schmitt’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
