On Tuesday (September 29), former Special Counsel Jack Smith appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee to answer questions about his efforts to prosecute Donald Trump in connection with the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election. One Republican senator tried and failed spectacularly to smear Smith and was ripped apart for it.
Eric Schmitt, the junior senator from Missouri, decided to set himself apart in attacking the former special counsel by alleging that he was in collusion with Fulton County District Attorney Fani Wills in going after Trump.
“Did you go to an NBA game between the Golden State Warriors and the Atlanta Hawks on February 3, 2024?”, Schmitt asked Smith, who looked at him puzzled before answering no.
Schmitt pressed, and Smith speculated that he could’ve flown through Atlanta to go somewhere else. Sneering, Schmitt clarified that February 3 was the day after Willis “came clean about her affair with the prosecutor — you know, the Atlanta prosecutor who was also trying to get Trump. The next day, were you in Atlanta?” Smith responded, no.
After Schmitt declared that he had text messages between Smith, Willis, and Nathan Wade, a former prosecutor proving Smith was in Atlanta, a congressional aide was beckoned to hold up a poster board showing all three and the texts briefly. “Well, I think you’ve already sufficiently answered,” Schmitt continued after the display. “I think you’ve already perjured yourself.”
Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar soon scuttled Schmitt’s whole attack by proving that the basketball game Jack Smith did attend was between the Iowa Hawkeyes and the University of Maryland Terrapins. Smith was even spotted in the audience. “I think that people should have their facts straight before they accuse someone of being a dirtbag,” she said.
Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey tore into the Republicans on the committee as well as President Donald Trump, calling the hearing “a farce”. He shared that same sentiment with the press afterward.
Schmitt would be defiant after being embarrased, telling a reporter he stood by his attack on Jack Smith. “I asked him if he was in Atlanta. He said he’s in Maryland. Maybe he’s telling the truth. Maybe he’s not. He’s lied before,” he said. But his reaction to Kloubuchar destroying his attack spoke volumes.
