Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., and Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., listen as Vice President JD Vance — event at Webco Manufacturing, in Olathe, Kansas, U.S., September 14, 2026.
Writer Emily Zanotti thinks that Republican Sen. Eric Schmitt (Mo.) sent out his talking points and press availability about his conspiracy theory about former special counsel Jack Smith before he made them in the hearing and was fact-checked to his face. She's not the only one who appears to have noticed that Schmitt's false claim suddenly appeared online via influencers quickly.
Zanotti noted that she was seeing right-wing media folks already pushing out talking points alleging perjury by Smith.
"Oh man, the influencer instruction emails went out BEFORE the testimony," she said, showing a post from Benny Johnson.
In the screen capture, Johnson appears to accuse Smith of perjuring himself.
Schmitt mistakenly claimed that Smith was in Atlanta, Georgia, the day after Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis revealed she'd dated a consultant her office later hired. As Schmitt told it, Smith was in Atlanta for an NBA game, seeing the Atlanta Hawks, and it raised suspicions about whether he was working with Willis.
Smith made it clear he'd never met Willis and wasn't in Atlanta for an NBA game. Schmitt smirked, reminding Smith he's "under oath." Smith made it clear he'd never been to an NBA game in Atlanta.
Schmitt flashed a blown-up poster board of text exchanges showing Willis with Smith and the text messages about Smith's seats for the game. Smith asked if he could see it again. He said that they'd removed it so quickly he didn't get a chance to see who was alleging what.
Schmitt even sneered, "It's ok. I think you've already perjured yourself."
That's when it became clear that the "Hawks" game that was being discussed was, in fact, the Iowa Hawkeyes playing the University of Maryland. Smith said he wanted to see Caitlin Clark play.
It appeared TPUSA got them too, as Schmitt went on Charlie Kirk's old show after the hearing, where they also repeated the conspiracy theory but then revealed that Schmitt was proven false.
Schmitt has attempted to save himself from what critics are calling a "humiliating" moment on national television by saying that it was his job "to ask the questions."
Former New York Daily News reporter Helen Kennedy thinks that this was clearly part of a broader effort by Republicans for a big "gotcha."
"I may need to go get my tinfoil hat, but I really think there was a big right-wing campaign ready to go based on the assumption that Schmitt was going to pull a splashy gotcha moment," she said on BlueSky. "The Axios story and all of these right wingers immediately crowing that Smith got got. And then not following up."
The Axios story she is referencing is a piece that dropped Tuesday morning before the hearing claiming that Schmitt's name is being passed around as a vice presidential running mate.
Litigator Dilan Esper commented, "It's nice to see the sausage being made every once in a while. Yes, there are plenty of people who simply repeat whatever talking points they are given. They have no intellectual honesty and don't confirm things or think for themselves. And something like this can expose them."
Even local Missouri news reporters made the same observation.
Mark Maxwell, political editor of KSDK News in St. Louis, quipped, "This is what it looks like when pre-rehearsed coordinated talking points go out to a goober host with zero knowledge or curiosity about what actually happened in the real world. Just deeply embarrassing for everyone involved. Back in Missouri, we still await return calls/emails."