When the former special counsel insisted he had not gone to see the Atlanta **Hawks **play in that time period, Mr. Schmitt declared, “I think you’ve already perjured yourself,” and called Mr. Smith a “dirtbag.”
The accusation appeared to unravel almost immediately.
Invited to respond by Senator Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat, Mr. Smith said he had, in fact, attended a basketball game on that day, but it was to see the Iowa **Hawkeyes **at the University of Maryland. That night, Caitlin Clark, the star point guard who now plays in the W.N.B.A., scored 38 points and had 12 assists.
The guys sitting behind Senator Schmitt are two lawyers who work for him. He also likely had his staff vet the claims. Senator Schmitt was really mad at being called out on his lies.
Archived copy of the article — archive.is isn’t exactly a good actor, but they don’t require registration.
Was it a mistake? He didn’t keep it up because he didn’t want Smith to be able to rebuttal.
I hope for his sake it was a mistake. Because if he did that on purpose - showing a bullshit claim on a giant poster board for about 5 seconds in the hope that someone like Smith would fall for it - then that’s even more embarrassing for him.
Edit: typos.