A Senate hearing involving former special counsel Jack Smith took an unexpected turn this week when a discussion about his investigations suddenly became a story about basketball.
During a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on September 29, 2026, Senator Eric Schmitt questioned Smith about where he was on February 3, 2024. Schmitt suggested that Smith had been in Atlanta attending a Golden State Warriors–Atlanta Hawks game and used that claim as part of his questioning about Smith’s work and contacts connected to the Trump investigations.
Smith strongly disputed that account. He said he had not attended an Atlanta Hawks game and explained that he remembered being at a women's college basketball game involving the Iowa Hawkeyes and Maryland.
That detail changed the direction of the exchange.
The Iowa team was playing Maryland that day, and Caitlin Clark was the star player for Iowa at the time. CNN later explained that the messages being discussed during the hearing were referring to the Iowa Hawkeyes, rather than the Atlanta Hawks.
The similarity between the names "Hawks" and "Hawkeyes" quickly became the center of attention online. Reports also surfaced showing video evidence placing Smith at the Maryland game, supporting his account that he was watching the Iowa team rather than attending an NBA game in Atlanta.
The moment quickly spread across social media because the original questioning had been presented as potentially significant evidence against Smith. Once the basketball-game details became clear, however, the exchange was widely discussed as a mix-up involving two different teams in two different states.
Schmitt later addressed the incident in an interview, saying that he had information indicating Smith was at a basketball game and arguing that his questions were intended to get Smith's own answer on the record.
The episode illustrates how quickly a congressional hearing can move from serious legal and political questions to an unexpected viral moment. What began as an attempt to establish Smith's whereabouts became a discussion involving the Atlanta Hawks, the Iowa Hawkeyes and Caitlin Clark.
For readers following the story, the key distinction is simple: the Atlanta Hawks game and the Iowa Hawkeyes game were two separate events. Smith said he attended the Iowa-Maryland women's basketball game, and reporting has since cited video evidence consistent with his account.
The incident is likely to remain one of the most talked-about moments from the hearing—not because of the basketball itself, but because of how a seemingly important piece of evidence became complicated by the difference between the Hawks and the Hawkeyes.
What started as a serious Senate confrontation ended with basketball terminology becoming the unexpected headline.
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