The Location Didn’t Match: How Atlanta vs. Maryland Changed a Jack Smith Senate Exchange

Sen. Eric Schmitt pressed former special counsel Jack Smith about whether he had been at an Atlanta Hawks game in February 2024. Smith instead recalled watching Iowa play Maryland — and the public schedules showed both games happened the same night in different states.

A sharp line of questioning at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing appeared to put former special counsel Jack Smith in a difficult position.

Sen. Eric Schmitt of Missouri repeatedly asked Smith whether he had attended an Atlanta Hawks game on February 3, 2024. Schmitt said his office had seen text messages that he believed placed Smith at a Warriors-Hawks game in Atlanta and raised the possibility that Smith was not telling the truth under oath.

Smith denied attending the Hawks game. Then he supplied a detail that changed the exchange.

He recalled attending a University of Iowa women’s basketball game at the University of Maryland, where Caitlin Clark was playing.

That detail was independently checkable — and the schedule matched his recollection. Iowa’s Hawkeyes played Maryland at the XFINITY Center in College Park, Maryland, on February 3, 2024. On the very same night, the Atlanta Hawks hosted the Golden State Warriors hundreds of miles away in Atlanta.

The distinction between “Hawks” and “Hawkeyes” quickly became the center of the hearing moment.

Why Schmitt was asking about Atlanta

The location question was not random.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and special prosecutor Nathan Wade had been pursuing Georgia’s election-interference case involving Donald Trump and others. At the beginning of February 2024, Willis was also facing intense scrutiny over her personal relationship with Wade.

Schmitt’s questioning appeared aimed at determining whether Smith — who was leading separate federal prosecutions involving Trump — had been in Atlanta at a politically sensitive moment and whether there had been contact between federal and Georgia prosecutors.

Smith said he did not think he had traveled to Atlanta while serving as special counsel and was more certain that he had not attended an Atlanta Hawks game.

He also denied meeting Willis or Wade while he was special counsel.

No evidence presented during the basketball exchange established that Smith had attended the NBA game or met the Georgia prosecutors that night.

The sports record was unusually easy to verify

The NBA’s official record shows that Golden State played the Atlanta Hawks at State Farm Arena on February 3, 2024. Atlanta won 141-134 in overtime despite Stephen Curry scoring 60 points.

Meanwhile, the University of Maryland’s official athletics record shows that No. 3 Iowa played Maryland that evening in College Park before a sold-out crowd of 17,950.

Iowa won 93-85.

Caitlin Clark scored 38 points, handed out 12 assists and collected six rebounds — exactly the kind of memorable performance that fit Smith’s recollection of attending a game featuring the Iowa star.

The University of Iowa’s own athletics site likewise records the February 3 road victory at Maryland and identifies the team as the Hawkeyes.

In other words, the public schedule did not prove every detail of Smith’s whereabouts by itself. But it did establish that the event he described was real, occurred on the date under discussion and took place in Maryland rather than Atlanta.

Then Amy Klobuchar focused on one word

Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota intervened after Smith described the Iowa-Maryland game.

She pointed out that the University of Iowa’s team is called the Hawkeyes and suggested that Schmitt’s line of questioning may have confused the Hawkeyes with the Atlanta Hawks.

That observation changed the tone of the exchange because the accusation had already escalated beyond a simple question about travel.

Schmitt had accused Smith of perjuring himself. Klobuchar later called on Schmitt to apologize, arguing that he had implied wrongdoing based on confusion over a team name.

Schmitt did not concede that his broader questioning was improper. The exchange remained part of a much larger and highly contentious hearing about Smith’s investigations of Trump and Republican criticism of his use of investigative powers.

The hearing itself was about much more than one basketball game

The Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on September 29, 2026, was formally focused on allegations that Smith abused his authority while investigating Trump and Republicans.

Republican senators challenged Smith over subpoenas, lawmakers’ phone records and other investigative steps. Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley argued that Smith’s operation had unfairly targeted conservatives and Republican officials.

Smith rejected the accusation that his prosecutions were politically driven. He said his investigations followed Justice Department policy and were based on evidence.

Democrats defended the legitimacy of the investigations while also acknowledging concerns about congressional records gathered during the probe.

The basketball confrontation became memorable precisely because it was unusually concrete compared with those broader legal and political disputes. Instead of debating intent, prosecutorial discretion or constitutional boundaries, the key question could be tested against a public sports schedule.

Why the location detail mattered

Had Smith actually been at the Atlanta Hawks game, that would not by itself have proven an improper meeting or coordination with Georgia prosecutors.

But placing him in Atlanta could have provided a factual foundation for further questions about why he was there and whom he met.

Once the alternative Maryland game entered the discussion, that foundation became much less certain.

The two events had three features that made confusion possible: they happened on the same date, both involved basketball, and the words “Hawks” and “Hawkeyes” sound similar.

They had one feature that made the distinction decisive: they took place hundreds of miles apart.

What the exchange ultimately proved

The hearing did not resolve every allegation surrounding Smith’s investigations, nor was the basketball dispute a judicial proceeding determining whether anyone committed perjury.

What it did show was how quickly a serious accusation can depend on a small factual distinction.

There really was an Atlanta Hawks game on February 3, 2024.

There really was an Iowa Hawkeyes game at Maryland on February 3, 2024.

Smith said he attended the second one.

The public schedule matched the date, location and Caitlin Clark detail he supplied during the hearing.

That did not settle the wider political fight over Jack Smith. But it transformed this particular exchange from an apparent contradiction about Atlanta into a much simpler question: had two basketball team names been mixed up?

For viewers following the hearing in real time, that one detail changed the story.