Most people try to get their facts straight when accusing someone of perjury—especially if the accuser is a sitting U.S. senator.
But that doesn’t seem to be the case for Missouri Republican Sen. Eric Schmitt, who has been ubiquitous on social media after a failed “gotcha” moment involving former special counsel Jack Smith, who led the federal criminal investigation against President Donald Trump.
The viral clip features a line of questioning between Schmitt and Smith, in which Schmitt attempts to prove that Smith lied about his whereabouts in 2024, claiming that Smith traveled to Atlanta to meet Fulton County Attorney General Fani Willis, who also pursued legal action against Trump. Schmitt suggested that Smith disguised his meeting by claiming he’d attended a game between the Atlanta Hawks and the Golden State Warriors.
But what Schmitt believed to be a smoking gun did nothing more than confuse Smith, who denied attending the game in question. Schmitt continued, going as far as insinuating Smith was on course to perjure himself and calling him a “dirtbag.” But the line of questioning was based on a mix-up. Smith had attended an Iowa Hawkeyes basketball game, not an Atlanta Hawks game.
Clips of the awkward moment have circulated on social media, with users calling it the senator’s “dumbest mistake of his career,” and “one of the wildest and most embarrassing gaffes I’ve seen in a congressional hearing.”
But rather than trying to apologize for the mistake, Schmitt—who has been suggested as a possible running mate in a hypothetical 2028 bid by Vice President JD Vance—is trying to double down and rewrite history.
Shortly after the hearing, Schmitt joined The Charlie Kirk Show—which retains its name despite its namesake’s September 2025 killing—and seemed to be in disagreement with what social media users saw as a fail.
“You caught him in this NBA game too in Atlanta,” one of the podcast hosts said, suggesting the line of questioning was a success. Schmitt replied simply with a “yeah.”
Schmitt has also gone on to try to undermine the error and present the intense line of questioning as just part of the process. “We had information, of course, about him being at a basketball game,” Schmitt told KTVI St. Louis on Tuesday. “The only NBA game going on that night.”
Schmitt’s question mentioned February 3, 2024, as the date of the alleged game, but despite claiming there was a single game that night, many users have since pointed out there were actually six basketball games that day.
When speaking with TMZ, Schmitt also didn’t seem to accept the error.
“It was not a mistake I asked him if he was in Atlanta,” Schmitt told TMZ. “He has lied before, so I guess we’ll take him at his word that he wasn’t in Atlanta. I don’t know.”
When asked if it was an embarrassing moment for him, Schmitt replied: “I asked questions, and we’ll see if he answers truthfully.”
