Missouri Sen. Eric Schmitt is facing a blistering rebuke from his hometown newspaper after a Senate hearing exchange with former special counsel Jack Smith went badly wrong.
Schmitt attempted, and failed, to get Smith to perjure himself during a contentious Senate hearing on Tuesday.
The hearing was part of the Atlanta-based criminal investigation into President Donald Trump, led by prosecutor Fani Willis.
During the hearing, Schmitt asked Smith whether he attended an NBA game between the Atlanta Hawks and the Golden State Warriors in February 2024.
Schmitt believed the messages could tie Smith to Willis and her former special prosecutor, Nathan Wade, who were involved in the Georgia election case against Trump. The pair’s undisclosed romantic relationship during the case sparked intense scrutiny, hearings, and legal challenges.
But Smith had no memory of ever attending that game.
“I have no recollection of that,” Smith responded, looking very confused by the question.
Schmitt then presented text messages he said showed Smith had been at the game on Feb. 3, 2024, the day after Willis admitted the affair.
He then warned Smith not to “perjure yourself,” and called him a “villain” and “a total dirtbag.”
It turns out Smith did go to a basketball game that day, but it was not the one Schmitt had claimed. Instead, Smith attended a game in College Park, Maryland, to see the Maryland Terrapins women’s basketball team play the Iowa Hawkeyes, led by Caitlin Clark.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar pointed out that the messages referred to a college basketball game involving the Hawkeyes and Terrapins—not the Atlanta Hawks.
“Could it then be that the University of Iowa is the Hawkeyes?” Klobuchar said. “That might be the confusion over the names of the team. But perhaps you should have looked at it more carefully.”
Klobuchar also slammed Schmitt for calling Smith a “dirtbag when he couldn’t even get his own facts straight.
“When you are calling a witness a ‘dirtbag’ and showing him these things…” she said. “I think that people should have their facts straight before they accuse someone of being a ‘dirtbag’ and not get the teams wrong. You had the teams wrong, sir.”
But instead of apologizing, Schmitt doubled down.
“I stand by that statement,” Schmitt said.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch described Schmitt’s performance as “embarrassing” and “especially cringey,” and mocked him for the failed gotcha moment.
“Just when you think Eric Schmitt couldn’t possibly embarrass himself and his constituents any more than he already has, he goes in for a rhetorical layup, gratuitously throws an elbow, spectacularly misses the shot and then stomps around the court indignantly when the ref calls foul,” the editorial said.
It added that all Schmitt had done was “proffer a loony right-wing conspiracy based on some misunderstood text messages,” calling the blunder “a lazy mistake on the part of Schmitt and his staff.”
The editorial went on to nail Schmitt for calling Smith a “dirtbag”, calling the term a “playground-level pejorative.”
“We’ll just leave it to readers to decide whose behavior in this story qualifies for the label “dirtbag”—let alone “villain,”” the editorial ended.
The Daily Beast has contacted Schmitt’s office for comment.
Schmitt began damage control after the embarrassing moment, posting a cringe comeback on X, “Who knew Jack Smith was a Caitlin Clark fan?”
Schmitt later expanded on his point, trying to downplay the humiliation in a CNN interview.
“We had information he was at a basketball game,” Schmitt said. “There was only one NBA game that night, at 7:30 tip-off, which is why I asked him if he was in Atlanta.”
“He answered the question. That’s what these hearings are for. You ask questions, you get answers.”
Schmitt added, “Smith has perjured himself before, but he says he’s at the game. Maybe he’s a Caitlin Clark fan. We’ll accept that.”
Following the hearing, Klobuchar had a blunt message for Schmitt. “My lesson from all of it is: Don’t ask questions when you don’t know the answer. Don’t have hearings,” she told CNN.
