Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) turned a Senate hearing into a sports fact-check after Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO) pressed Jack Smith over a supposed Atlanta basketball trip that the former special counsel said never happened.
The odd detour unfolded Tuesday as Schmitt tried to question Smith about possible contact with Fani Willis, the Atlanta prosecutor who also brought charges against President Donald Trump.
Schmitt’s theory depended on placing Smith in Atlanta in February 2024, one day after Willis disclosed that she was in a relationship with one of her staffers. That disclosure brought new scrutiny to the Fulton County election interference case against Trump.
Smith told senators he did not remember being in Atlanta then and said he did not meet Willis.
Before calling someone a “dirtbag,” the Senator should have had his facts straight. An apology is in order.
Glad one of us knew the difference between the Atlanta Hawks and the Iowa Hawkeyes! pic.twitter.com/2WrNH78HKk— Senator Amy Klobuchar (@SenAmyKlobuchar) September 29, 2026
“I really don’t think so. It’s possible I flew through the Atlanta airport on the way to Florida, but I do not have a recollection of going to Atlanta. I definitely did not go to a Hawks game,” Smith said.
What Smith did remember was a different basketball outing in a different state.
He told the panel he went to Maryland to watch Caitlin Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes.
“The Marshals Service was there with me. You could check if that was the exact date,” Smith said.
Klobuchar, whose turn came after Schmitt’s, zeroed in on the college-basketball clue.
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“Could it then be that University of Iowa is the Hawkeyes? … That might be the confusion over the names of the team,” Klobuchar said.
She repeated the point with a sharper edge aimed at Schmitt’s preparation.
“That might be the confusion over the names of the team. But perhaps you should have looked at it more carefully,” Klobuchar said.
Schmitt fired back that Klobuchar was trying to “rehabilitate the witness.”
During his own questioning, Schmitt had framed the Atlanta issue around Willis and the timing of her relationship disclosure.
“Let me just give you a little context. The day before Fani Willis came clean with her affair with the prosecutor, you know, the Atlanta prosecutor that was also trying to get Trump. The next day, were you in Atlanta?” Schmitt asked.
Schmitt pointed to text messages, but his staff only briefly put the board in view at first.
When the messages were displayed again, they did not identify the Atlanta Hawks, the Iowa Hawkeyes or any game. The exchange showed one prosecutor on Smith’s team reserving a meeting room, then another staffer saying Smith was “already down here.”
Schmitt still warned Smith during the hearing, “I don’t think you know that we have this stuff.”
Smith appeared puzzled by the Atlanta premise, while Schmitt seemed taken aback when Smith rejected the idea that he had gone there or met with Willis.
Democrats protested when Schmitt did not immediately show the messages again, saying Smith should be able to see the material behind the question. Schmitt later put the texts back up.
Before the questioning moved on, Schmitt called Smith a “villain” and “dirtbag.”
Klobuchar later came back with the schedule details, saying Smith’s account matched the Iowa-Maryland game.
“We have confirmed that, in fact, you are right, Mr. Smith. Iowa, the Iowa Hawkeyes, played Maryland on Feb. 3, 2024. The final score was 93 to 85. Iowa won, and Caitlin Clark scored over 30 points, so it must have been a pretty good game. The game was, in fact, in Maryland, Mr. Smith,” Klobuchar stated.
She tied the sports confusion directly to Schmitt’s attack on Smith.
“I would just say, for a U.S. senator to have false information and imply, based on a confusion about the name of a team, which I knew, knowing my Midwestern sports, and imply that you were in another city that you were somehow involved that day in what was happening in Georgia and then call you a dirtbag is something that deserves an apology,” Klobuchar added.
Klobuchar carried the argument onto X after the hearing. “Before calling someone a ‘dirtbag,’ the Senator should have had his facts straight. An apology is in order,” she wrote.
She also used the platform for one more sports dig. “Glad one of us knew the difference between the Atlanta Hawks and the Iowa Hawkeyes!” Klobuchar wrote.
Schmitt offered no apology and continued challenging Smith’s answers in interviews after the hearing.
TMZ later caught up with Schmitt as he accused Smith of lying during the committee appearance.
“He lied about not seeing the contents, and he lied about not getting advice to file the superseding indictment within sixty days of the election,” Schmitt told the outlet. “So Jack Smith is not credible. He gave his answer and I guess that’s his answer.”
Schmitt explained that he was trying to learn “how much coordination took place between him and the Atlanta prosecutor.”
“I asked him if he was in Atlanta, he answered no, he’s lied before, so I guess we’ll take him at his word, that he wasn’t in Atlanta,” Schmitt continued. “He’s not answered truthfully before, so people can decide if that’s the truth or not.”
Schmitt also discussed the hearing on “The Charlie Kirk Show,” where host Andrew Kolvet praised the exchange and said Smith “sat there acting dumbfounded and completely clueless.”
CHARLIE KIRK SHOW: Gotta give you some flowers. Dang! So you had text messages from Jack Smith's team confirming he was going to a Hawks game, and he sat there acting dumbfounded?
ERIC SCHMITT: It was the only NBA game going on at that time in Atlanta. He claimed later that he… pic.twitter.com/IqTIG8YP38
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 29, 2026
“It was the only NBA or NCAA men’s game going on at that time in Atlanta. He claimed later that he was at another game,” Schmitt responded. “Here’s the thing — my job is to ask the questions. If that’s what his answer is, that’s what his answer is.”
By Tuesday night, Schmitt had put his own Caitlin Clark joke on X.
“Who knew Jack Smith was a Caitlin Clark fan?” he wrote.