Jack Smith on Government Transparency

Public disputes concerning what governments and public bodies disclose about their own conduct, data and records, including the completeness, timing and accuracy of what they publish.

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Counts show individual statements. They do not assign an overall position.

Statement history

1 statement on this page. Dates: September 29, 2026

1 matching statement. Dates: September 29, 2026

3 published statements. Dates: September 29, 2026

Challenged the characterization

1 published statement. Dates: September 29, 2026

1 statement on this page. Dates: September 29, 2026

Jack Smith

Role at the time: Former special counsel, testifying under oath before the Senate Judiciary Committee

September 29, 2026Challenged the characterization

Response to this claim

Sen. Eric Schmitt implied that Jack Smith attended a Golden State Warriors versus Atlanta Hawks NBA game in Atlanta on February 3, 2024, asking Smith whether he had gone to the game and displaying a poster of text messages he described as coming from Smith's team.

“if this is the correct basketball game, I recall going to a University of Maryland basketball game where Caitlin Clark was playing right around that time ... You could check if that was the exact date. It was Maryland playing Iowa, I think February of 2024”

Watch the original video

Sen. Klobuchar Clashes with Sen. Schmitt After He Mistakenly Claims Jack Smith Attended NBA Game in Atlanta · C-SPANClip runtime 0:00-7:11. Sen. Schmitt's opening question and the text-message poster exchange run from 0:00-1:35. Jack Smith's Maryland-Iowa clarification and Sen. Klobuchar's on-the-record correction run from approximately 5:20-7:11.

C-SPAN video clip of the September 29, 2026 Senate Judiciary Committee hearing at which Jack Smith testified. The clip covers Sen. Eric Schmitt's questions about Smith's attendance at a February 3, 2024 basketball game, Smith's denial and later clarification, and Sen. Amy Klobuchar's real-time correction. DI reviewed the audio directly to verify the exact wording of this exchange rather than relying on news paraphrase.

Archived copy

Why we used this label

Smith does not adopt Schmitt's description of the game. He says the game he recalls attending around that date was a Maryland game with Caitlin Clark, hedges that the date could be checked, and so disputes the description of the game as a Hawks game.

Read statement Did Jack Smith Attend the Warriors-Hawks Game Eric Schmitt Asked About?