Inside Source: Schmitt Knew Jack Smith Evidence Was 'Unvetted,' But Used It Anyway

That monumental blunder was quite literally no one's fault but his own.
Inside Source: Schmitt Knew Jack Smith Evidence Was 'Unvetted,' But Used It Anyway
Credit: Screen Capture
By Andrea Thompson — October 2, 2026

According to a bombshell new report from MS NOW, Republican Senator Eric Schmitt knew that the text messages provided by the Department of Justice that he would go on to use as "evidence" against former special counsel Jack Smith in his Senate Judiciary Committee hearing were "unvetted," yet he chose to use them anyway -- a decision I can only imagine he is filled with regret over now.

Schmitt was desperate to prove a link between the former special counsel who once investigated President Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election and Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who had her own separate investigation into the president in Georgia around the same time. Committee staff gave the senator's team access to the messages between unnamed prosecutors and Smith's team but, according to "a source with direct knowledge of the conversation," Schmitt and his people were warned right off the bat that the material had not been vetted and they were responsible for verifying the information -- something that, clearly, was not done.

Schmitt whipped those text messages out, blown up on big foam board, with all of the confidence and arrogance afforded to a mediocre white man, and confidently cited them as "evidence" that Jack Smith attended an Atlanta Hawks game on February 3, 2024, suggesting that this was proof that the then-special counsel was in Georgia and colluding with Fani Willis.

As Smith said he "definitely did not go to a Hawks game," Schmitt immediately accused him of perjury, calling Smith a "dirtbag."

As it turns out, Schmitt confused the Atlanta Hawks with the Iowa Hawkeyes—video footage confirms that Smith did, in fact, attend a Hawkeyes game in Maryland on February 3.

According to the MS NOW report, the seat number that was referenced in those unvetted messages didn't even exist at the Atlanta Hawks' State Farm Arena.

The ridiculous blunder immediately went viral and catapulted a once-unknown Republican Senator to the peaks of public humiliation in an instant -- with even the likes of Fox News chief political analyst Brit Hume and CNN conservative commentator and WH press secretary hopeful Scott Jennings publicly admitting that the whole thing was 100% Schmitt's fault.

For his part, the senator is still desperately trying to save face, telling TMZ in the aftermath of the gaffe that he didn't even make a mistake; he was asking questions because Smith is such a notorious liar.

When he was told by the TMZ reporter that there was video proof showing that Smith was in Maryland on the night in question, Schmitt flippantly responded, "Great. Well, then he was at the Hawkeyes game. I just asked him if he was in Atlanta."

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