Schmitt faces fallout after debunked Jack Smith narrative

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The Hill's Headlines | PM - September 29, 2026

The Hill's Headlines | PM - September 29, 2026

Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) is facing accusations he tried to launch a conspiracy tying former special counsel Jack Smith to others who prosecuted President Trump — a line of questioning that unwound when the senator apparently confused two basketball teams. 

Schmitt seemed poised for a gotcha moment with Smith when he asked him if he ever attended a February 2024 NBA game in Atlanta where the Hawks played the Golden State Warriors.

Schmitt gave a sly smile when Smith first denied attending the game and later implied he was catching the prosecutor by surprise.

“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,” Schmitt said.

His staff displayed a poster of texts of Smith’s staff discussing seat numbers, and Schmitt said “for context” the date of the game was just after Fulton County, Ga., District Attorney Fani Willis (D) acknowledged a romance with a staffer — drama that rocked the case into Trump’s election interference in Georgia.

But the demeanors of the two men changed over the course of the exchange, with Smith becoming increasingly confused and Schmitt’s staff swiftly removing a poster featuring the text exchange the senator implied proved the prosecutor’s travels.

MS NOW zoomed in on Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.), seated next to Schmitt, with a stunned look on her face as Smith recalled he had attended a game in Maryland where the Iowa Hawkeyes were playing.

It soon became clear that Schmitt and his staff had confused Smith’s attendance at an Iowa Hawkeyes basketball game for an Atlanta Hawks game.

Democrats have accused Schmitt of fomenting a conspiracy theory. Schmitt, despite the apparent mistake and flawed premise as well as the public criticism, has since promoted the inquiry on conservative media.

“Somebody didn’t do their homework,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) told The Hill. 

“I’m a trial lawyer by profession. You get it right, or don’t........

© The Hill