U.S. Sen. Eric Schmitt's attempt to pull a 'got'cha' on Jack Smith blows up spectacularly, turning the senator into an internet punching bag and making Smith's claims against Donald Trump look airtight

(ABC News)

Jack Smith has appeared before Congress so many times that it has become almost impossible to trip him up. U..S. Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO), an ardent believer in Donald Trump's desire to see Smith punished for  having the president indicted twice, learned that lessen the hard way yesterday at a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

A mix-up about two basketball games, of all things, blew up in Schmitt's face, turning him into the butt of jokes across the web. Some observers even suggested the fiasco might cause the possibility of Schmitt becoming J.D. Vance's 2028 running mate to disappear into the ether. The hearing presented journalists with all kinds of sidebars and camera angles, and in a jointly published article at CNN and Yahoo! News, Aaron Blake sorts through them under the headline "An embarrassing moment for the GOP, a confident witness, and other takeaways from Jack Smith's hearing." Blake writes:

Special counsel Jack Smith, who brought two indictments against now-President Donald Trump in 2023, testified in front of Congress again on Tuesday — this time, to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Smith's testimony comes as Republicans continue to probe the investigations into Trump and as some in the party, including the president, have pushed for often-unspecified criminal charges to be brought against Smith.

Here are the major takeaways from Tuesday's hearing.

An embarrassing episode epitomizes the GOP's failures to pin down Smith

Republicans have struggled mightily to substantiate Trump's desire for Smith to be charged criminally (maybe that's because they have no case against Smith, under the law). But rarely has it seemed to backfire like it did Tuesday. 

Sen. Eric Schmitt of Missouri crafted an apparent conspiracy theory about Smith being tied to the prosecution of Trump in Fulton County, Georgia. To substantiate his theory, Schmitt cited text messages he suggested showed Smith had been at an Atlanta Hawks game on February 3, 2024 – the day after Fulton County prosecutor Fani Willis and special prosecutor Nathan Wade admitted to an affair.

Smith appeared dumbfounded, though. He denied going to a Hawks game and said he had no recollection of even being in Atlanta.

"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 3, 2024 – the day after Willis and Wade announced their affair?" Schmitt said.

Schmitt went big on the allegation, telling Smith, "I don't think you know that we have this stuff." He urged Smith not to "perjure yourself." He called Smith a "dirtbag." He later told the "Charlie Kirk Show" that he was just asking questions and seeing whether Smith would ensnare himself.

Committee Democrats helped produce evidence that gave Smith some idea of what Schmitt was trying to get at -- and that allowed Smith to let the air out of Schmitt's "got'cha" balloon, Blake reports:

Eventually, Democrats got Schmitt to allow Smith to actually review the evidence – a poster featuring the texts in question. In one of them, a fellow prosecutor asks about a seat being reserved for Smith. The poster showed the Atlanta Hawks' arena.

But by this point, Smith seemed to put it together. He said he was not at a game featuring the Atlanta Hawks, but rather the University of Iowa Hawkeyes women's basketball team – which then featured Caitlin Clark – at the University of Maryland in the Washington, DC, area.

Smith's recollection matches up with a game played that day. 

It turns out that Schmitt and his staff did a poor job of research in preparation for the hearing. Blake writes. That provides evidence that any case the GOP might try to concoct against Smith is likely to be built from extremely thin gruel. It makes you wonder how Schmitt ever managed to become attorney general of Missouri, not to mention a U.S. senator. Both positions appear to require a keen intellect that Schmitt does not seem to possess. Blake writes:

Behind the scenes, a source familiar with how Schmitt got it wrong told CNN the Republican senator checked what men's college and NBA games were scheduled that day and found only the Atlanta Hawks set to play — but he failed to consider that Smith may have been at a women's basketball game.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, after clearing up the matter, said Schmitt should apologize.

Instead, he laughed it off, telling CNN later Tuesday: "Who knew Jack Smith was a Caitlan Clark fan?"

The Republican defended his pointed line of questioning, saying, "That's what these hearings are for. You ask questions, you get answers. You know, Jack Smith has perjured himself before, but if he says he's at the game, maybe he's a Caitlin Clark fan. We'll accept that."

At the hearing, he maintained that the texts "could have obviously been related to the prosecution" in Fulton County. He said he stood by calling Smith a "dirtbag."

The scene epitomized how speculative and thinly constructed the GOP's allegations about Smith, Trump's foes and about the justice system being weaponized against Trump have been. Likewise, the GOP's other major perjury allegation against Smith rests on a complete misreading of the evidence.

But rarely has this apparent fishing expedition been laid so bare. Schmitt seemed to firmly believe he had nailed Smith on something. But just minutes later, it fell apart – and rather spectacularly so. 

Smith has often seemed detached when jousting with members of Congress. But Blake notes that he has taken on a more human and approachable persona in such situations, and that might help swing public opinion to his side:

Smith was more animated than at an earlier hearing

Smith is a very careful witness. He often pauses noticeably before answering a question — in a way that can be a little jarring.

But he's also made clear that he wants to fight back against the Trump administration's weaponization of the justice system against people like him. And on Tuesday, he was a little more animated and open.

He punctuated his opening statement by saying, "Fear may be contagious; courage is as well."

He also called it an "outrage" that people he worked with were "targeted illegally, lost their jobs illegally, and had their lives turned upside down by this Department of Justice."

When asked about the Supreme Court's 2024 ruling conferring presidents with a large degree of immunity, Smith said it "can be very dangerous to the rule of law" for powerful people to benefit from such exceptions.