“Perhaps you should have looked at it more carefully,” Sen. Amy Klobuchar told Sen. Eric Schmitt of his mistake

NEED TO KNOW

• Sen. Eric Schmitt accused Jack Smith of committing perjury when he was questioned about attending an Atlanta Hawks game during testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, Sept. 29
• Smith said he attended a University of Maryland game featuring Iowa Hawkeyes star Caitlin Clark, not an NBA game involving the Atlanta Hawks
• Sen. Amy Klobuchar called for an apology after confirming Iowa played Maryland that day

Sen. Eric Schmitt caused some confusion when he openly accused Jack Smith of perjury before realizing he was the one who misspoke.

During a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday, Sept. 29, the Missouri Republican, 51, erroneously attempted to link Smith to Fani Willis, the Fulton County district attorney who investigated President Donald Trump’s alleged interference in Georgia’s 2020 presidential election results, by claiming that Smith, 57, attended an Atlanta Hawks game in February 2024.

In reality, Smith was at the University of Maryland to watch the Iowa Hawkeyes and Caitlin Clark play the Maryland Terrapins on the same day.

“Did you go to an NBA game against the Golden State Warriors and the Atlanta Hawks on Feb. 3, 2024?” Schmitt asked Smith, a lawyer who served as an independent special counsel to investigate Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election and Trump’s alleged mishandling of government records.

After Smith asked Schmitt to repeat the question and where the game took place, Schmitt said it was in Atlanta. Smith said he wasn’t at the game and appeared confused.

“So your testimony today is that you did not go to a Hawks game on Feb. 3, 2024? Is that correct?” Schmitt pressed. 

Smith once again denied being at the game, adding that he also had no recollection of being in the area at that time.

“Let me just give you a little context,” the senator said. “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?”

Smith added that while working as special counsel, he never met with Willis, 54, nor former special prosecutor Nathan Wade. Willis and Wade were previously alleged to have had a “personal relationship” with each other while prosecuting Trump, 80. On Feb. 2, 2024, Willis admitted to having a relationship with Wade, but said it started after he was already hired to investigate Trump.

Willis was disqualified from the Georgia case in December 2024. In November 2025, her replacement dropped all charges against Trump and his co-defendants.

Previously, in November 2024, Smith asked for the dismissal of the federal election subversion and mishandling of classified documents cases after the Supreme Court ruled that Trump had some presidential immunity from criminal prosecution.

Schmitt asked Smith what he would say if “a series of” enlarged screenshots of a text exchange were brought out as evidence in an attempt to place Smith in Atlanta the day after news of Willis and Wade’s relationship was made public.

Smith, still appearing to be confused, said nothing.

“I don’t think that you know that we have this stuff. So, I’ll give you a second to process it so you don’t perjure yourself,” Schmitt told Smith, adding, “I think you’ve already perjured yourself.” 

Smith noted that the screenshots were shown quickly, and asked to see it again, as others at the hearing also asked for a copy of the text.

“If this is the correct basketball game, I recall going to a University of Maryland basketball game where Caitlin Clark was playing right around that time and the Marshals Service was there with me,” Smith said.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar interrupted to suggest that maybe Schmitt meant the University of Iowa Hawkeyes and not the Atlanta Hawks. 

“That might be the confusion over the names of the team, but perhaps you should have looked at it more carefully,” Klobuchar told Schmitt, who had also referred to Smith as a “dirtbag” during the hearing.

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The Minnesota Democrat, 66, and Schmitt briefly argued after he accused her of cutting into his debate time before the issue was resolved.

“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,” she said.

“And 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 concluded.

PEOPLE reached out to Schmitt for comment.

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