Reporter Confronts Republican Senator on the Street Over Viral Blunder: ‘What Happened in There?’

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TMZ DC’s Charlie Cotton confronted Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO) outside the Capitol over his failed attempt to catch former special counsel Jack Smith in a contradiction, asking the senator, “What happened in there?”

Smith testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee earlier today in a hearing focused on his investigations into President Donald Trump. He went so far as to say he’d uncovered “proof beyond a reasonable doubt” that the commander in chief “engaged in serious crimes against our nation.”

Schmitt wasn’t having any of it. He claimed Smith had secretly traveled to Atlanta in 2024 to meet with Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who led her own investigation into Trump. Schmitt cited text messages he said placed Smith at an Atlanta Hawks game and accused him of lying about his whereabouts, calling him a “total dirtbag.”

Though, as Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) pointed out, Schmitt had apparently confused the Hawks with the Iowa Hawkeyes. Footage posted by MeidasTouch shows that Smith did indeed attend an Iowa-Maryland women’s college basketball game on Feb. 3, 2024.

So, it’s no wonder TMZ DC made sure to check in with Schmitt later on Tuesday.

“I gotta ask, man, what happened in there?” Cotton inquired.

“About what?” the Republican senator shrugged before the reporter clarified, “With getting it wrong.”

Read a transcript of the continued exchange below:

SCHMITT: Well, I don’t think about it that way. I asked him if he was at a basketball game that night. The only NBA game that was going on that night was in Atlanta. So, I asked him if he was there. He had already lied twice. He lied about not seeing the contents, and he lied about, um, you know, not filing, not getting advice not to file the superseding indictment within 60 days of the election, so Jack Smith is not credible. Um, he gave his answer, and I guess that’s his answer.

COTTON: It just looked like you had a “gotcha” for him, like, “You’re gonna perjure yourself,” or “You’re lying now,” and then you had the wrong —

SCHMITT: Well, he was at a basketball game. I asked him if he was in Atlanta. He said, “No.” He said he was at another game. That’s his answer, so it is what it is.

COTTON: How did that mistake happen?

SCHMITT: It’s not a mistake! I asked him if he was in Atlanta. The only NBA game going on — actually, the only NCAA men’s game or NBA game — with a 7:30 tip-off was in Atlanta, so I asked him if he was in Atlanta that night.

COTTON: But it seemed like you were trying to get him rather than just —

SCHMITT: Well, I asked him if he was at a Hawks game in Atlanta, because we’re trying to figure out how much coordination took place between him and the Atlanta prosecutor.

COTTON: So, no heads are gonna roll over this sort of thing, like whoever gave you that information, their job isn’t in jeopardy?

SCHMITT: Well, no, I asked him a question, like, were you 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? I don’t know.

COTTON: So, that wasn’t, like, an embarrassing moment or something from where you’re standing?

SCHMITT: No. I ask questions. I ask questions, and we’ll see if he answers truthfully. He’s not answered truthfully before, so people can decide if that’s the truth or not. I mean, I suppose that the Department of Justice can ask him where he was that night. I don’t know.

COTTON: The Hawkeyes game!

SCHMITT: What’s that?

COTTON: The Hawkeyes game, wasn’t he?

SCHMITT: That’s what he says.

COTTON: Oh, no, no, no. We can see in the audience that he’s in that section. I’ve seen him in the section that night.

SCHMITT: For that night? Great. Well, then he was at the Hawkeyes game. I just asked him if he was in Atlanta.

The Republican senator later posted on social media with a reference to former Hawkeyes star Caitlin Clark.

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