Fallout Continues After Sen. Eric Schmitt’s Jack Smith “Gotcha” Backfires in Hawks / Hawkeyes Blunder**

A dramatic attempt by Republican Sen. Eric Schmitt to confront former Special Counsel Jack Smith with what the Missouri senator presented as potentially explosive evidence has turned into a growing Washington controversy after the underlying theory collapsed over a basic basketball mistake and subsequent reporting revealed Schmitt’s office had been working from material it was reportedly warned had not been verified.

The exchange unfolded during Smith’s September 29 appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee, where Republicans aggressively questioned the former special counsel over his investigations of President Donald Trump. Schmitt attempted to establish that Smith had traveled to Atlanta on February 3, 2024, potentially connecting him to Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and the separate Georgia prosecution involving Trump.

Schmitt repeatedly asked Smith whether he had attended an NBA game between the Golden State Warriors and Atlanta Hawks that night. Smith denied attending the game and said he did not believe he had been in Atlanta. Schmitt then dramatically escalated the exchange, telling Smith that he possessed text messages from members of Smith’s team discussing a basketball game and warning the former prosecutor to consider his answer carefully so he would not potentially perjure himself.

There was just one major problem: Smith had apparently been at a completely different basketball game hundreds of miles away.

Smith Was Watching Caitlin Clark in Maryland

As Schmitt displayed the messages, Smith began piecing together what the senator appeared to be referencing. He recalled attending a University of Maryland women’s basketball game involving Iowa and Caitlin Clark. Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar quickly identified the apparent disconnect: Iowa’s athletic teams are the Hawkeyes, while Schmitt had been questioning Smith about the Atlanta Hawks.

The Iowa Hawkeyes played Maryland in College Park, Maryland, on February 3, 2024, the same date at the center of Schmitt’s questioning. Clark scored 38 points and recorded 12 assists as Iowa defeated Maryland 93-85. Video from the game subsequently circulated showing Smith in attendance. That meant the supposed Atlanta trip underpinning Schmitt’s confrontation had not been established at all.

The distinction was particularly consequential because Schmitt was not merely asking Smith about his basketball preferences. He was attempting to determine whether Smith had traveled to Atlanta around the time Willis and prosecutor Nathan Wade were facing scrutiny over their personal relationship, potentially supporting Republican allegations of coordination between federal and Georgia prosecutors investigating Trump. Smith denied meeting with Willis or Wade.

The Text Messages Did Not Actually Say “Hawks”

Subsequent reporting made the episode even more complicated. The Hill reviewed the text messages and reported that neither the Atlanta Hawks nor Iowa Hawkeyes were identified in the relevant exchanges. Instead, Smith’s colleagues discussed finding seats and meeting one another inside a basketball arena. One message referenced seats in section 201 and another discussed whether a seat in section 109 was reserved for Smith. The messages established that members of Smith’s team were attending a basketball game, but they did not establish that the game was in Atlanta.

CNN separately reported that Schmitt’s team attempted to determine which basketball game Smith could have attended by checking NBA and men’s college basketball schedules. That search led them toward Atlanta. What apparently was not included in the search was women’s college basketball. Had it been, the Iowa Maryland game featuring one of the biggest stars in American sports would have appeared as another obvious possibility.

Schmitt’s Team Was Reportedly Warned the Material Needed Verification

Another significant detail emerged after the hearing. According to reporting subsequently cited by The Hill, staff working for Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley had warned Schmitt’s office that the text messages were unverified and would need to be independently vetted before they were used.

Nevertheless, Schmitt used the material during a nationally televised hearing while raising the possibility that Smith had committed perjury. The distinction matters. There is an enormous difference between asking a witness where he was on a particular night and confronting that witness with supposedly contradictory evidence while suggesting his answer may constitute a federal crime.

Once Smith identified the Maryland and Iowa game, Schmitt’s central premise unraveled in real time. Klobuchar later criticized the accusation and Schmitt’s language toward Smith, arguing that senators should verify their evidence before leveling serious allegations.

Schmitt Refuses to Call It a Mistake

Schmitt has not embraced the characterization that the episode was an embarrassing error. Speaking to reporters afterward, he argued that his responsibility was to ask questions and that Smith had answered them. He later joked about discovering that Smith was apparently a Caitlin Clark fan.

“My job is to ask the questions, and his job is to answer the questions,” Schmitt told a St. Louis television station after the hearing.

When confronted separately about the episode, Schmitt continued to defend the questioning, saying his office had information indicating Smith was at a basketball game and was attempting to determine whether that game had taken place in Atlanta. But the senator’s original questioning went substantially further than simply asking Smith where he had been. During the hearing, Schmitt explicitly raised the possibility of perjury while displaying the text messages as apparent evidence contradicting Smith’s testimony.

White House Job for Schmitt Aide Reportedly Thrown Into Doubt

The fallout may also have extended beyond Schmitt himself. Politico reported that Ethan Harper, Schmitt’s general counsel, had been expected to leave the senator’s office and begin working in the White House Staff Secretary’s office. Harper was the aide seen behind Schmitt displaying the poster board containing the text messages during the hearing.

Following the episode, Harper’s planned transition to the White House was reportedly thrown into doubt. The Staff Secretary’s office plays an important role in managing documents and other material flowing to the president, making the controversy surrounding improperly vetted information particularly notable. There is, however, no public evidence establishing that Harper personally created the faulty theory or was responsible for failing to verify it. His White House move had reportedly been arranged before the hearing.

CBS Panel Examines Growing Fallout

The controversy became the subject of a CBS News discussion on October 1 featuring Republican strategist Matt Whitlock and Democratic strategist Mo Elleithee. CBS described the episode as a high profile mix up in which Schmitt attempted to accuse Smith of perjury only for the underlying basketball theory to collapse.

The discussion focused in part on how such a basic verification failure could survive preparation for a nationally televised Senate hearing. The episode is particularly striking because congressional hearings involving former federal prosecutors are extensively prepared events. Senators typically work with lawyers, investigators and legislative staff to assemble questions and supporting material before witnesses ever enter the hearing room.

In this case, the evidence being used to support an extraordinarily serious insinuation apparently could have been tested by examining the full basketball schedule for February 3, 2024.

Wisconsin Campaign Faces Separate Fight Over AI Deepfakes

The same CBS News segment also examined another controversy illustrating a different problem confronting American political campaigns: realistic AI-generated videos depicting candidates saying things they never actually said. Republican Rep. Derrick Van Orden of Wisconsin has repeatedly posted AI generated videos depicting his Democratic challenger, Rebecca Cooke. One synthetic video showed a fabricated version of Cooke appearing to say she was running for Congress to “take advantage of as much corruption as possible” and provide free health care to undocumented immigrants.

Cooke did not make those statements.

Her attorneys sent Van Orden a cease and desist letter on September 30 demanding that he stop publishing what they described as defamatory AI deepfakes. The letter specifically cited an August 4 video and argued that putting fabricated statements into a realistic synthetic representation of Cooke could expose Van Orden to liability under Wisconsin defamation law. Van Orden’s campaign has defended the videos as obvious political satire and argued that they reflect what it considers Cooke’s political positions. Earlier reporting found that videos posted on X carried platform-generated “Grok Imagine” labels, while versions appearing on other platforms did not necessarily carry equivalent disclosures.

Wisconsin enacted legislation in 2024 requiring disclosures on certain political communications containing synthetic media, but whether every social-media post by a federal candidate falls within that statute is a separate legal question. Cooke’s cease-and-desist letter therefore relies heavily on traditional defamation principles rather than establishing that Van Orden has definitively violated Wisconsin’s AI law. Van Orden has shown no indication that he intends to abandon the tactic. After receiving the cease-and-desist demand, he responded with another AI generated video, this time featuring a synthetic red duck saying, “Cease and desist.”

Two Controversies, One Growing Problem: Verification

The two stories involve very different circumstances, but both underscore the growing importance of verifying information before presenting it as fact in American politics.

In Washington, Schmitt entered a Senate hearing armed with text messages that he believed could undermine the credibility of a former federal prosecutor. The messages proved Smith had been discussing a basketball game, but they did not establish the crucial fact Schmitt’s theory required: that Smith had been in Atlanta.

In Wisconsin, artificial intelligence makes the verification problem even more difficult. Political campaigns can now manufacture realistic footage of opponents appearing to make statements they never uttered, leaving voters to determine whether what they are watching is authentic, satire, manipulation or outright fabrication.

The Schmitt episode demonstrates how an incorrect inference from genuine evidence can become a national political controversy within minutes. The Wisconsin dispute shows the inverse problem: technology can now create persuasive “evidence” of events that never occurred at all. Both controversies arrive just weeks before the November 3 midterm elections, when political messaging, viral video and AI-generated content will be competing for voters’ attention at extraordinary speed. As the technological tools used to produce and distribute political content become faster and more sophisticated, the burden of verification on campaigns, journalists, government officials and voters is becoming increasingly important.

Sources & Further Reading

CBS News — “Fallout Grows After Sen. Schmitt’s Hawks-Hawkeyes Blunder at Jack Smith Hearing”
https://www.cbsnews.com/video/fallout-grows-after-sen-schmitts-hawks-hawkeyes-blunder-at-jack-smith-hearing/

Reuters — “Former Trump Prosecutor Jack Smith Faces Senate Hearing”
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/former-trump-prosecutor-jack-smith-faces-senate-hearing-over-abuse-authority-2026-09-29/

CNN — Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing Coverage and Transcript
https://transcripts.cnn.com/show/ebo/date/2026-09-29/segment/01

Wisconsin Public Radio — “Cooke Campaign Sends Cease-and-Desist to Congressman Van Orden Over AI Deepfakes”
https://www.wpr.org/news/cooke-cease-and-desist-letter-van-orden-ai-deepfakes

WBAY — “AI Posts of Candidates Raise Concerns About Misinformation on Social Media”
https://www.wbay.com/2026/09/07/ai-posts-candidates-raise-concerns-about-misinformation-social-media/