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Politics195 outlets ran this3 min read

Senator Schmitt Accuses Jack Smith of Perjury Over Basketball Game

Klobuchar points out Schmitt's confusion between Iowa Hawkeyes and Atlanta Hawks.

AI-assisted coverage comparison, editor-supervised · How this was made

Published Updated
Look Of Horror On Senator's Face After She Realizes Colleague's Huge Gaffe During Hearing

What this story says

  • Senator Eric Schmitt accused former special counsel Jack Smith of perjury during a Senate hearing.
  • Schmitt claimed Smith lied about attending an NBA game in Atlanta.
  • Jack Smith stated he attended a game in Maryland involving the Iowa Hawkeyes.
  • Senator Amy Klobuchar noted Schmitt's confusion between the Iowa Hawkeyes and the Atlanta Hawks.

Who covered it

Left 38%(60)Centre 47%(73)Right 15%(24)

Percentages are shares of the 157 outlets carrying a published leaning rating. 38 of the 195 outlets we know ran this story carry no rating and are not counted in them. Coverage measured .

Trust

42/100

Craft

65/100

Hype

41/100

195 sources · methodology

Missing from the right

Only 24 of the 157 outlets with a published leaning rating that ran this story are rated right.

A reader who follows the right would not have seen this. We report the absence rather than explain it: outlets choose what to cover for many reasons, and we have no evidence about which one applies here.

Senator Eric Schmitt accused former special counsel Jack Smith of perjury, alleging Smith had lied about attending an NBA game in Atlanta. Schmitt presented text messages he said proved Smith's attendance. However, under questioning from Senator Amy Klobuchar, Smith stated he had attended a game in Maryland featuring the Iowa Hawkeyes.

Disagreement on game location and teams

Senator Eric Schmitt claimed Jack Smith attended an NBA game in Atlanta. Jack Smith stated he attended a game in Maryland. Senator Amy Klobuchar highlighted Schmitt's apparent confusion between the Iowa Hawkeyes and the Atlanta Hawks.

What the coverage left out

No right-rated reports were published about this story. The digests from left and centre-rated outlets did not mention any claims made by Republican officials suggesting Jack Smith colluded with Fani Willis to prosecute Trump, beyond the context of Schmitt's initial accusation.

Tags:#EricSchmitt#JackSmith#AmyKlobuchar#Perjury#IowaHawkeyes#AtlantaHawks

Coverage settled. We checked this 20 times and stopped on 5 Oct 2026, 15:15. The figures above are what it finished at.

How each side covered it

Our own reading of the reporting listed below, written from the outlets’ articles rather than quoted from them. The reasoning is set out on our methodology page.

Left

60 rated outlets

  • Ten left-rated reports focused on Senator Eric Schmitt's accusation of perjury against former special counsel Jack Smith. These reports highlighted Schmitt's claim that Smith lied about attending an NBA game in Atlanta. They also detailed how Senator Amy Klobuchar pointed out Schmitt's confusion between the Iowa Hawkeyes and the Atlanta Hawks, with some reports quoting Klobuchar directly. Several left-rated outlets noted that conspiracy theories promoted by Republican officials suggest Smith colluded with Fani Willis to prosecute Trump. The Independent's full report noted the reaction of Republican Senator Katie Britt to Schmitt's gaffe. Raw Story and Alternet mentioned Sean Hannity deleting a post related to the exchange. Joe.My.God. and Above the Law used headlines that characterised Schmitt's actions as a significant error.

Centre

73 rated outlets

  • All eight centre‑rated digests reported that Senator Eric Schmitt, a Republican from Missouri, questioned former special counsel Jack Smith during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing and appeared to confuse the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks with the Iowa Hawkeyes women’s basketball team, then accused Smith of perjury.
  • KGAN’s digest led on the headline that Schmitt confused the Atlanta Hawks with the Iowa Hawkeyes. NBC Chicago’s digest noted the hearing was convened to examine Smith’s probe into former President Trump. Winnipeg Free Press’s digest added that the two teams are roughly 650 miles apart. Sportskeeda’s digest mentioned Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark in relation to the hearing.
  • My Mother Lode’s digest recorded that Schmitt repeatedly asked whether Smith had attended an Atlanta NBA game on the evening of 3 February 2024. WKMG’s digest repeated the mistaken‑team description. The Record’s digest specified the alleged game date. Medicine Hat News’s digest echoed the distance between the teams and the perjury accusation.
  • None of the centre‑rated digests mentioned any response from Jack Smith, any legal consequences, or any cost estimate related to the hearing. They also omitted broader political analysis beyond noting the probe into former President Trump.

Right

24 rated outlets

  • MY Northwest led on Schmitt’s attempt to trip up former prosecutor Jack Smith, noting that Schmitt claimed Smith perjured himself after being pressed about attending an NBA game in Atlanta, and that Schmitt appeared to confuse teams playing roughly 650 miles apart. TMZ led on the same line of questioning, describing the episode as a ‘gotcha’ moment that back‑fired.
  • Neither digest provides a verbatim statement from Smith, nor does either specify the exact NBA contest or the precise time of the hearing. Both digests omit any reference to other senators’ reactions, to the broader investigation’s scope, and to any financial or policy implications that might be linked to the hearing.

Questions about this coverage

How did the left and right cover Senator Schmitt Accuses Jack Smith of Perjury Over Basketball Game?
Of the 157 outlets on this story carrying a published leaning rating, 38% are rated left, 47% are rated centre, 15% are rated right. Those percentages are shares of the rated outlets, not of every outlet that ran it, which was 195. The sections above set out what each side emphasised, in its own terms.
Is Senator Schmitt Accuses Jack Smith of Perjury Over Basketball Game left or right?
Neither side dominates it. Of the 157 rated outlets on this story, 38% are rated left, 47% are rated centre, 15% are rated right, and no side holds the 70% this site would want before calling a field one-sided. A story is not left or right in any case; the outlets that carried it are what carry ratings.
Is the coverage of Senator Schmitt Accuses Jack Smith of Perjury Over Basketball Game biased?
Senator Schmitt Accuses Jack Smith of Perjury Over Basketball Game is one event reported by 195 outlets, and this page does not rate the story as biased or unbiased. What it publishes is the spread: which outlets ran it, where named rating organisations place each of them on the spectrum, and what each side chose to lead with. A leaning rating describes an outlet's record over time, not this article, and the two should not be run together.
Which side is not reporting Senator Schmitt Accuses Jack Smith of Perjury Over Basketball Game?
When we first saw this story, outlets rated right had barely covered it. Coverage accretes for hours after an event, so that is where to look rather than a verdict — the split above is the current count, and it is the one to read.
Which outlets covered Senator Schmitt Accuses Jack Smith of Perjury Over Basketball Game?
195 that we know of, every one of them listed further up this page with a link to its own report and to what we hold on the publisher. Nothing here is a summary of somebody else's summary: the outlets are named so the original reporting can be read.
What did Senator Eric Schmitt accuse Jack Smith of?
Senator Eric Schmitt accused former special counsel Jack Smith of perjury. Schmitt claimed Smith lied about attending an NBA game in Atlanta, presenting text messages as evidence. Jack Smith stated he attended a game in Maryland.
What was the confusion during the hearing?
Senator Eric Schmitt appeared to confuse the Iowa Hawkeyes, a college basketball team, with the NBA's Atlanta Hawks. Senator Amy Klobuchar highlighted this mix-up, noting that Smith had attended a game in Maryland involving the Hawkeyes.
Did any right-rated outlets cover this story?
No right-rated outlets published reports on this story. The coverage analysed came from left-rated and centre-rated publications, as well as unrated sources.

Read it at the source

210 outlets, grouped by the leaning a published rating gives them. Every headline links to the original; an underlined outlet name opens our profile of that publisher.

Left

74
Show 66 more

Centre

74
Show 66 more

Right

24
Show 16 more

Not rated

38
Show 30 more

How did this read?

About the coverage, not about the story. We do not ask whether you agree with what happened — we have no honest use for that answer.

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