A Republican senator’s gotcha attempt ended in utter humiliation when his definitive proof of deep-state collusion crumbled, earning him a public roast from Jimmy Kimmel—and a wild new nickname.
Former Special Counsel Jack Smith pushed back against relentless Republican questioning during a high-stakes Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday, forcefully defending his previous investigations into President Donald Trump.
The panel’s grand inquiry quickly unraveled when Republican Senator Eric Schmitt of Missouri attempted to land what he clearly believed was a knockout blow on Smith.
The Trump sycophant produced text messages that he insisted proved Smith had made a covert trip to Atlanta to meet with Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. His definitive proof rested on a detail showing Smith at a basketball game between the Golden State Warriors and the Atlanta Hawks.
Schmitt openly accused the former prosecutor of lying under oath, telling him, “I don’t think you know that we have this stuff. So I’ll give you a second to process it so you don’t, you know, perjure yourself.”
There was just one fatal flaw in the senator’s grand conspiracy theory. Schmitt had completely confused the Atlanta Hawks with the Iowa Hawkeyes.
Smith had not traveled to Georgia to plot with local prosecutors. Instead, he had attended a University of Maryland game in College Park, Maryland, to watch superstar Caitlin Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes.
After U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat, stepped in to clarify the absurd mix-up, the entire line of questioning collapsed into instant embarrassment for congressional Republicans.
The epic blunder quickly became late-night comedy fodder, too. Kimmel took the stage at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, where he is hosting a week of special broadcasts of Jimmy Kimmel Live! at the Howard Gilman Opera House, to roast the senator, giving him a new nickname in the process.
“You remember the name Jack Smith? Jack Smith was the prosecutor who put together all that damning information that had Trump not won the election, would probably meant he’d be in prison rather than the Oval Office right now,” Kimmel told his audience.
“Smith today said his investigation developed proof beyond a reasonable doubt that President Trump engaged in serious crimes against our nation, but Republicans in the Senate Judiciary Committee are investigating his investigation instead of the results of it. And some of these guys are so unbelievably dim.”
Kimmel singled out the Missouri lawmaker, recounting how Schmitt believed he had a massive gotcha in his pocket.
“He had text messages that he said proved Jack Smith was in Atlanta, presumably scheming with the district attorney, Fani W,illis and going to an Atlanta Hawks basketball game while he was there, which is exactly what one would do on a covert mission to frame the president,” Kimmel scoffed. “The only problem is Jack Smith wasn’t in Atlanta at a Hawks game. He was in Maryland at an Iowa Hawkeyes game.”
After rolling the cringe-inducing footage of the exchange, Kimmel shredded the lawmaker with the new nickname.
“Dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb. Oh, Eric, what a Schmitthead you are,” Kimmel said, with the audience lapping it up.
“Of course, not only didn’t Senator Schmidt apologize for the false accusation, in fact, even though he was clearly wrong, he’s sticking to it. He’s acting like he got him and probably screaming at his staff quietly on the side. You know, we focus so much on Donald Trump. It’s easy to forget the gaggle of morons he has working for him.”
During the hearing, Schmitt doubled down even as his premise melted away. When Smith gently pointed out that he remembered seeing Clark play in Maryland alongside members of the U.S. Marshals Service, Klobuchar offered Schmitt a swift reality check. “Could it then be that University of Iowa is the Hawkeyes?” she asked.
Klobuchar ultimately delivered the knockout blow to Schmitt’s botched interrogation, adding, “You had the teams wrong, sir.”
