Durbin demands Schmitt records and an apology for Jack Smith

Senate Judiciary Democrats accused their GOP counterparts of violating committee rules by failing to share documents that served as the basis for a confusing flub about sports teams when questioning Jack Smith last week. They’ve also demanded an apology for the former special counsel.

Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) has faced backlash after he accused Smith of attending an Atlanta Hawks NBA game, implying he may have met with fellow President Trump prosecutor Fulton County, Ga., District Attorney Fani Willis (D). Smith has denied ever meeting her.

The question befuddled Smith, who later recalled he attended a game between the Iowa Hawkeyes and the Maryland Terrapins around that same time.

The Democrats’ letter, spearheaded by ranking member Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), notes that the majority is required to share records it receives with the minority.

“As of the date of this letter, we still have not received these records. We request that you immediately provide these and all other documents that you have withheld, commit to fully complying with Senate rules in the future, and apologize to Mr. Smith on behalf of the Committee for the unacceptable personal attacks and false accusations of perjury he faced during this hearing,” the letter states.

Durbin called Schmitt’s questioning “an effort to manufacture a connection between Mr. Smith and the Fulton County Georgia District Attorney. The texts established only that Senator Schmitt had not done the basic due diligence of verifying a document before relying on it.”

“Nonetheless, Senator Schmitt incorrectly asserted to Mr. Smith, ‘I think you’ve already perjured yourself,’ and inexcusably branded him ‘a dirtbag,’ language which is beneath the dignity of this Committee and the Senate,” he wrote.

A spokesperson for committee Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), to whom the letter is addressed, rejected the idea, noting the senator’s own recent work investigating Smith, including that he reviewed small dollar donations made to conservative groups.

“It’s Jack Smith who owes an apology to the thousands of Americans he and his staff ran roughshod over,” spokesperson Clare Slattery said in a statement.

The Hill has obtained the messages the committee’s Democrats now seek, which show the limited basis for Schmitt’s line of questioning.

The texts amount to a few exchanges the night of Feb. 3, 2024, and don’t reference a team name at all — instead largely showing prosecutors on Smith’s team coordinating over finding their seats in the area and agreeing to mingle at halftime.

After asking if a seat in row 109 was reserved for Smith, a member of his team asked if there might be room to join them.

“We are in 201. High; but center court. I will swing down at half to say hello,” JP Cooney, Smith’s then-deputy, wrote in the text.

Smith told lawmakers during last week’s hearing that he went to the Maryland game because he was interested in seeing Iowa star player Caitlin Clark.

Though included elsewhere in the documents, there were signs the group was interested in women’s basketball.

In late March 2024 — a few weeks after the prosecutors’ outing — Smith’s staff again discusses basketball, with prosecutor David Harbach writing, “P.s. Caitlin Clark on tonight at 8pm on ESPN.”

Schmitt has said he was largely focused on the timing of the texts, matching that to the tipoff of the Atlanta game. His team also said he did not see the messages about Clark.

“Senator Schmitt has never seen texts referencing Caitlin Clark, hence why he asked what game Jack Smith was at. Had Schmitt received those text messages of course he wouldn’t have asked which game he attended. As the Senator has since said, he learned the one thing he and Jack Smith have in common is they are a fan of college sports,” a spokesperson for the senator said last week.

Durbin credits Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) with pressing Schmitt to again show the text messages he flashed during his questioning of Smith and helping connect the dots that Schmitt had the wrong team.

“This farce culminated in a national embarrassment for the Committee, when, in their eagerness to ambush a witness and manufacture a viral moment, Republican Members violated Senate rules by not sharing committee records with the minority and falsely accused a witness of perjury based on their own misunderstanding of these records,” he wrote.