Team mix-up drives viral moment at Jack Smith hearing

A mistaken matchup

At a Tuesday Senate hearing, Missouri Republican Sen. Eric Schmitt asked former special counsel Jack Smith whether he had attended an Atlanta Hawks game on Feb. 3, 2024. Schmitt pointed to text messages he said placed Smith there. Smith denied attending the NBA game, and Schmitt accused him of perjury, meaning lying under oath.

Minnesota Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar then identified the team mix-up: The messages referred to the Iowa Hawkeyes, not the Atlanta Hawks. Smith had attended the Iowa-Maryland women’s college basketball game that night. Caitlin Clark was playing for Iowa. The correction meant the messages Schmitt cited did not show Smith at the Atlanta NBA game.

A pool camera captured Alabama Republican Sen. Katie Britt, seated beside Schmitt, looking stunned as the mistake became clear. The image spread online and became the exchange’s defining visual, Fox News reported.

The response after the hearing

It drew further criticism. New York Times columnist David French said Schmitt should apologize and hold staff accountable for the work behind the exchange.

The error was about more than two similar team names. Schmitt used the mistaken identification as the factual basis for a perjury accusation during Senate testimony. Once Klobuchar distinguished the Hawkeyes from the Hawks, the basis presented in that exchange fell apart. Britt’s on-camera reaction gave the episode an immediate visual that traveled beyond the hearing itself.