Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., and Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., listen as Vice President JD Vance — event at Webco Manufacturing, in Olathe, Kansas, September 14, 2026. Mark Schiefelbein/Pool via REUTERS
Republican Sen. Eric Schmitt's badly fumbled line of attack against Jack Smith has been widely mocked and denounced, and now, even his own local news program has joined in, eviscerating his "clown-show" argument in a recent segment.
On Tuesday, former special counsel Jack Smith once again sat for questioning at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, in which Republicans once again attempted to attack his investigations into President Donald Trump as corrupt. At one point, Schmitt, with the aid of posters, tried to accuse Smith of colluding with Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis in his investigations, basing his logic on Smith supposedly attending an Atlanta Hawks basketball game in February 2024.
As it turned out, Schmitt had mixed up teams, as Smith had actually attended an Iowa Hawkeyes women's college basketball game. Before he was corrected, the senator went so far as to accuse Smith of perjury when he denied attending the Atlanta Hawks game. The incident was widely criticized, among pundits and Schmitt's own colleagues, as an embarrassing flub.
On Tuesday evening, prolific left-wing commentator Christopher Webb shared a segment from Schmitt's own local news program, which dug further into the extent to which the senator's information was grossly inaccurate.
"This is priceless. Check out how local news is reporting on Sen Eric Schmidt’s clown-show grilling of Jack Smith," Webb wrote in his post.
"It's the kind of moment senators dream about," the reporter in the segment explained. "Sen. Schmitt had his stage, and hey, shooters shoot. He knows ball, right? So he took his shot."
The segment continued, following a clip of the exchange between Smith and Schmitt: "We did find the broadcast video, though, Fox Sports, courtesy of them, and we do find Jack Smith. You can see him yourself, top corner up here, section 109, row 1. In fact, that seat itself doesn’t even exist in Atlanta. Marv Albert would call this an airball. Like any intense game, we had some trash talk too, Sen. Schmitt called Smith, quote, 'a dirtbag,' and 'a villain.' He quickly made the rounds on conservative podcasts where these influencers priased his appearance for taking Jack Smith down a peg."
The reporter noted that the network had reached out to Schmitt's office for an explanation or an apology, but did not hear anything back. He added that when a witness lies under oath, they can face punishments up to and including prison time, but when a senator like Schmitt gets their facts wrong, "he's just asking questions."
This is priceless.Check out how local news is reporting on Sen Eric Schmidt’s clown-show grilling of Jack Smith.They found Jack Smith at the game…“Top corner, section 109, row 1. In fact, that seat doesn’t even exist in Atlanta.” https://t.co/CDyPrKkNgQ
— Christopher Webb (@cwebbonline) September 30, 2026