Smith appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday to answer questions about his investigation into Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election results. Schmitt, a Trump ally, pressed him on an alleged web of connections to Georgia officials who ran their own probe into the former president.
Schmitt's big piece of evidence centered on Smith's attendance at an Atlanta Hawks game, which happened a day after Fulton County prosecutor Fani Willis admitted to a relationship with someone on her prosecution team. Schmitt seemed to think the timing proved some kind of coordination or cover-up between the two investigations.
That theory did not survive contact with the room. Schmitt's line of questioning fell apart in front of the committee, turning what he framed as a gotcha moment into an embarrassment.
The exchange matters because Smith's investigation remains one of the most scrutinized legal efforts tied to the 2020 election fallout, and lawmakers on both sides keep looking for cracks in his credibility. A senator publicly failing to find one on camera does not help that effort.
A Hawks game ticket stub was supposed to be the smoking gun. It wasn't.