WATCH: GOP Senator’s Dramatic Attempt to Trap Jack Smith Blows Up Spectacularly Thanks to an Utterly Brutal Gaffe

 

A Republican Senator’s effort to trap Special Counsel Jack Smith blew up in dramatic fashion thanks to an astonishing gaffe.

In what was a stunning sequence during Tuesday’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO) presented a wild conspiracy theory in which he alleged that Smith had a secret meeting with Fulton County, Georgia D.A. Fani Willis — who charged President Donald Trump in an election subversion case in 2023. Schmitt attempted to show that Smith attended an Atlanta Hawks basketball game as cover for him to be in Atlanta to meet with Willis. But it all came crashing down on Schmitt — thanks to an apparent lack of sports knowledge.

“Did you go to an NBA game between the Golden State Warriors and the Atlanta Hawks on February 3rd, 2024?” Schmitt asked Smith.

“What city would that be?” Smith asked.

“Atlanta,” Schmitt replied.

“No,” Smith said.

“Let me just give you a little context,” Schmitt said, pressing. “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?”

“I do not believe so,” Smith said — adding that he didn’t believe he was in Atlanta at any point while he was special counsel.

It was at this point that Schmitt introduced the evidence that he thought would show Smith had just perjured himself.

“What would you say if I had a series of text messages from your team that said you were in Atlanta at a Warriors-Hawks game on February 3rd, 2024 — the day after Willis and [Nathan] Wade announced their affair?”

A staffer proceeded to hold up a poster board showing text messages from Smith.

“I’ll give you a second to process it so you don’t, you know, perjure yourself,” Schmitt said.

A Democratic senator asked for Smith to be provided with a copy of the text messages, as Schmitt began to take a victory lap for what he thought was a gotcha moment.

“I think you’ve already perjured yourself,” Schmitt said.

After another brief exchange, Schmitt unleashed a fiery closing statement denouncing Smith.

“I just want to say — in the famous words of the chief of the secret police under Stalin — show me the man, I’ll show you the crime,” he said.

“You may think you’re a hero in this story. But let me tell you something: You’re the villain. You’ve done so much damage as a former prosecutor; I can say there’s so much damage to the trust and faith people have in our system — you have weaponized the Department of Justice against political enemies to an extent that has never happened in the history of this country. You will go down as a total dirtbag.”

Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) was up next, and she asked for Smith to be furnished with a copy of the texts about which he’d just been confronted. Smith then indicated that he had an explanation for the messages.

“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 Marshal Service was there with me. You could check if that was the exact date. It was Maryland playing Iowa, I think, February of 2024.”

Schmitt, it turned out, had confused the Atlanta Hawks with the University of Iowa Hawkeyes.

“Perhaps you should have looked at it more carefully,” Klobuchar said — in the direction of Schmitt.

The Missouri senator defended himself.

“I presented him with text messages about him wanting to meet with people that could have obviously been related to the prosecution that was coordinated with his office in Atlanta,” Schmitt said.

“I’m going to begin my questions now,” Klobuchar said. “But I think that people should have their facts straight before they accuse someone of being a dirtbag and not get the teams wrong.”

Watch above, via MS NOW.

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!

Tags:

Joe DePaolo is the Editor in Chief of Mediaite. Email him here: joed@mediaite.com Follow him on X: @joe_depaolo