Schmitt, Klobuchar clash over Smith’s 2024 basketball trip

Former special counsel Jack Smith told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday that his team “developed proof beyond a reasonable doubt that President Trump engaged in criminal activity,” as a Republican senator accused him of perjury over a basketball game he said he did not attend.

Smith, who served as special counsel after Trump left office in his first term, testified about the inquiries he led into Trump’s alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election and his retention of classified documents in his bathroom at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida. The proceedings were ongoing as of midday Tuesday.

In prepared remarks released at the hearing, Smith wrote that he “developed proof beyond a reasonable doubt that President Trump engaged in criminal activity.” He added, “If asked whether to prosecute a former president based on the same facts today, I would do so regardless of whether that president was a Republican or a Democrat.” Smith noted that grand juries in two districts returned indictments in the cases.

Republicans have criticized Smith for the inquiries, which they say are flawed and partisan; some have called for him to be jailed.

Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., said Smith committed perjury based on texts about Smith allegedly going to a 2024 Atlanta Hawks basketball game. Schmitt insinuated that Smith had gone to Atlanta to meet with Fani Willis, the Fulton County prosecutor who pursued a separate case against Trump.

Smith said he had actually attended a University of Maryland women’s basketball game against the Iowa Hawkeyes in College Park, Md., to watch Caitlin Clark — not an Atlanta Hawks game. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., confirmed that Iowa was playing Maryland in College Park that day.

“For a U.S. Senator to have false information and imply based on a confusion about the name of a team … and imply you’re in another city that you were somehow involved that day in what was happening in Georgia and then call you a dirt bag is something that deserves an apology,” Klobuchar said. Schmitt then said he stood by his calling Smith a “dirt bag.”

Democrats used their time at the hearing to defend Smith and his former team. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., the committee’s top Democrat, said Republicans’ criticism of Smith is “petty, personal and political,” and said they are “nothing but a smokescreen to distract from the president’s own clear unlawful conduct,” The Times reported.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, the panel’s chairman, portrayed the FBI and Justice Department staff who worked on the investigations against Trump in derogatory terms during his questioning. Smith replied, “I believe public servants should be protected. The members of my team you just mentioned, I’m extremely proud to have worked with them. And the fact that they have been targeted illegally, lost their jobs illegally, and had their lives turned upside down by this Department of Justice is an outrage,” The Times reported.

In his opening statement, Smith argued that he made the right decision to prosecute the then-former president for his alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election and for keeping classified documents in his bathroom at Mar-a-Lago.

Smith also told the panel that the rule of law faces what he described as unprecedented pressure. “As I appear before you today, it is my belief that the rule of law faces challenges unlike any we have experienced in our lifetime,” he said. “Individuals are threatened with criminal investigation because they are perceived to have opposed the president. Predetermined outcomes increasingly seem to take precedence over the Justice Department’s long-standing core values, traditions and norms.”

Smith added: “Since January 2025, we have witnessed … the vilification of the career prosecutors, FBI agents, and support staff who served on my team, simply because of their unwavering commitment to the fair and impartial administration of justice without regard for any personal costs.”

Closing his prepared remarks, Smith said: “I myself have been threatened with jail by the president of the United States. I remain confident, however, that the rule of law will endure because so many continue to uphold it faithfully each day.”

The testimony was ongoing.