Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee have requested a formal apology from Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) following a dispute during a hearing involving former special counsel Jack Smith. Ranking Member Dick Durbin (D-IL) led a letter asking Grassley to apologize on behalf of Republican members, specifically Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO), who accused Smith of perjury during his testimony. The request follows a hearing where Schmitt suggested Smith had attended an NBA game in Atlanta to coordinate with local prosecutors.
The dispute stems from a Sept. 29, 2026, hearing where Jack Smith defended his investigations into former President Donald Trump. During the proceedings, Schmitt used a poster of text messages to argue that Smith was in Atlanta on Feb. 3, 2024, for a game between the Atlanta Hawks and the Golden State Warriors. Smith clarified during the hearing that he was actually at a women’s college basketball game between the University of Maryland and the University of Iowa in Maryland to watch Caitlin Clark.
In their letter to Grassley, Democrats stated that Schmitt's accusations "caused needless confusion" and "slowed down the business of the Committee." They also demanded the release of underlying records used by Schmitt, claiming they were not shared with the minority party ahead of time. During the hearing, Schmitt referred to Smith as a "dirtbag" and suggested he had already perjured himself. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) also spoke in Smith's defense, stating he deserved an apology for the "confusion about the name of a team."
The underlying text messages, later reviewed by The Hill, did not reference any specific basketball team names but mentioned seat numbers and a 7:30 p.m. tip-off. Schmitt stated he focused on the Atlanta game because it occurred the day after Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis admitted to a romance with a staff member. A spokesperson for Grassley, Clare Slattery, responded to the Democratic letter by stating that "it’s Jack Smith who owes an apology to the thousands of Americans he and his staff ran roughshod over."
For the general public, the primary impact is a delay in committee business and the potential for conflicting information to be entered into the congressional record. While the exchange did not result in immediate changes to taxes or benefits, it highlights the procedural standards for how evidence is introduced during high-profile hearings. The use of internal DOJ communications in a public setting also sets a precedent for how much advance notice minority party members receive before materials are presented in a televised session.
The next steps depend on Chairman Grassley’s response to the request for records and an apology. No formal vote on the letter is scheduled, and Sen. Schmitt has stated he regrets nothing regarding his line of questioning. The committee's broader investigation into the special counsel's handling of the Trump cases has been ongoing for more than two years and is expected to continue. Future hearings or document releases have not yet been assigned specific dates.