{"id":164031,"date":"2026-09-30T14:18:36","date_gmt":"2026-09-30T22:18:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/09\/30\/eric-schmitt-drags-harvard-and-asslaw-into-jack-smith-hearing-faceplant\/"},"modified":"2026-09-30T14:18:36","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T22:18:36","slug":"eric-schmitt-drags-harvard-and-asslaw-into-jack-smith-hearing-faceplant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/09\/30\/eric-schmitt-drags-harvard-and-asslaw-into-jack-smith-hearing-faceplant\/","title":{"rendered":"Eric Schmitt Drags Harvard And ASSLaw Into Jack Smith Hearing Faceplant"},"content":{"rendered":"

Senator Eric Schmitt spent Tuesday accusing Jack Smith of perjury<\/a> over a basketball game Smith never attended, in a city he never visited, involving a seat that didn\u2019t exist. By the afternoon, he\u2019d managed to drag Harvard Law School and \u2014 predictably \u2014 ASSLaw into the mess.<\/p>\n

For the uninitiated, Schmitt asked Smith whether he attended \u201can NBA game between the Golden State Warriors and the Atlanta Hawks on February 3, 2024.\u201d Smith said he\u2019d definitely never been to a Hawks game. Schmitt then smugly declared that he had text messages placing Smith in Atlanta and had his staff (and Senator John Kennedy for some reason) hold up a poster for the Perry Mason moment:<\/p>\n

\n

I don\u2019t think you know that we have this stuff, so I\u2019ll give you a second to process it so you don\u2019t, you know, perjure yourself.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Schmitt announced that he thought Smith had perjured himself by denying he went to an Atlanta Hawks game and called the former special prosecutor \u201ca total dirtbag.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of course, we all now know that Smith attended an Iowa Hawkeyes game on that date, a revelation that literally every Republican involved seems utterly humiliated by except Eric Schmitt who still doesn\u2019t seem to have connected the dots.<\/p>\n

\"\"
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It seems as though Schmitt\u2019s trying to spin his fuck up as though watching the most omnipresent women\u2019s basketball player of that year makes Smith weak? Or something. At this point, it\u2019s unclear if Schmitt knows what he\u2019s trying to say at any given moment. <\/p>\n

In any event, Schmitt is getting absolutely demolished in the comments and it\u2019s hilarious.<\/p>\n

Among the many images from the hearing that achieved instant classic status, one focused on Schmitt flanked by two young staffers who seem to be realizing in real time that they just got demolished on live TV. Well, Marisa Kabas identified<\/a> the two men, and they\u2019re both lawyers. One was Ethan Harper, Schmitt\u2019s chief counsel, who was just in Cambridge last month<\/a> chatting with the Federalist Society about judicial selection. The other was Andrew Ceonzo, counsel to Schmitt and the Senate Judiciary Committee, and a product of the Antonin Scalia Law School, or ASSLaw, as it shall forever be known.<\/p>\n

Everyone involved in this affair deserves a heaping helping of scorn \u2014 including the staff. That said, the vibes on social media started turning toward this being a \u201cstaff mistake,\u201d which we need to nip in the bud. This wasn\u2019t an obscure bit of oppo research buried in a 50-page memo and passed up the chain. Schmitt accused a celebrated lawyer of perjury based on three text messages<\/em>. He had every opportunity to read these texts and every obligation to exercise the 15 seconds of judgment required to realize that they might not back up the conspiracy theory he wanted to peddle.<\/p>\n

The texts never mentioned Atlanta. Schmitt and his team seemingly found texts, crafted the loony theory they wanted to lay out, and never bothered pushing any further. One of the keys to understanding the modern conservative movement is a post (shared approvingly by resident CNN conservative Scott Jennings<\/a>) \u201cThe problem with left-leaning media is their intrinsically more strict with their propaganda to only using verifiable sources\u2026.\u201d That\u2019s the nut of it. Conservatives see facts as annoying afterbirth of propaganda instead of the basis of a non-psychotic view of the world. That\u2019s the mindset that grabs a text, assumes it\u2019s probably about Jack Smith secretly huddling with Fani Willis, and calls it good enough.<\/p>\n

And the staff almost assuredly bought in, contributing to the error through either inaction or active encouragement. But this isn\u2019t on the pup lawyers. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s useful to know who they are, if only to revisit this when Donald Trump attempts to put one or both on the appellate bench before this is all over. So all the credit in the world to Kabas for working that out. At the same time, I suspect some Republicans are helping push stories about the staff to give Schmitt convenient bodies to shove under the bus \u2014 assuming he ever figures out that he\u2019s wrong. Let\u2019s not give Schmitt that escape hatch. This is on him. <\/p>\n

Earlier<\/strong>: Senator Accuses Jack Smith Of Perjury Because Missouri Lawmaker Too Dumb To Know About The Iowa Hawkeyes<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

\"Headshot\"Joe Patrice<\/a>\u00a0is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. Feel free to\u00a0email<\/a> any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on\u00a0Twitter<\/a>\u00a0or Bluesky<\/a> if you\u2019re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Eric Schmitt Drags Harvard And ASSLaw Into Jack Smith Hearing Faceplant<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tLook at that smug look before he got curb stomped by reality. (Photo by Win McNamee\/Getty Images)\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Senator Eric Schmitt spent Tuesday accusing Jack Smith of perjury<\/a> over a basketball game Smith never attended, in a city he never visited, involving a seat that didn\u2019t exist. By the afternoon, he\u2019d managed to drag Harvard Law School and \u2014 predictably \u2014 ASSLaw into the mess.<\/p>\n

For the uninitiated, Schmitt asked Smith whether he attended \u201can NBA game between the Golden State Warriors and the Atlanta Hawks on February 3, 2024.\u201d Smith said he\u2019d definitely never been to a Hawks game. Schmitt then smugly declared that he had text messages placing Smith in Atlanta and had his staff (and Senator John Kennedy for some reason) hold up a poster for the Perry Mason moment:<\/p>\n

\n

I don\u2019t think you know that we have this stuff, so I\u2019ll give you a second to process it so you don\u2019t, you know, perjure yourself.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Schmitt announced that he thought Smith had perjured himself by denying he went to an Atlanta Hawks game and called the former special prosecutor \u201ca total dirtbag.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of course, we all now know that Smith attended an Iowa Hawkeyes game on that date, a revelation that literally every Republican involved seems utterly humiliated by except Eric Schmitt who still doesn\u2019t seem to have connected the dots.<\/p>\n

\"\"
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It seems as though Schmitt\u2019s trying to spin his fuck up as though watching the most omnipresent women\u2019s basketball player of that year makes Smith weak? Or something. At this point, it\u2019s unclear if Schmitt knows what he\u2019s trying to say at any given moment. <\/p>\n

In any event, Schmitt is getting absolutely demolished in the comments and it\u2019s hilarious.<\/p>\n

Among the many images from the hearing that achieved instant classic status, one focused on Schmitt flanked by two young staffers who seem to be realizing in real time that they just got demolished on live TV. Well, Marisa Kabas identified<\/a> the two men, and they\u2019re both lawyers. One was Ethan Harper, Schmitt\u2019s chief counsel, who was just in Cambridge last month<\/a> chatting with the Federalist Society about judicial selection. The other was Andrew Ceonzo, counsel to Schmitt and the Senate Judiciary Committee, and a product of the Antonin Scalia Law School, or ASSLaw, as it shall forever be known.<\/p>\n

Everyone involved in this affair deserves a heaping helping of scorn \u2014 including the staff. That said, the vibes on social media started turning toward this being a \u201cstaff mistake,\u201d which we need to nip in the bud. This wasn\u2019t an obscure bit of oppo research buried in a 50-page memo and passed up the chain. Schmitt accused a celebrated lawyer of perjury based on three text messages<\/em>. He had every opportunity to read these texts and every obligation to exercise the 15 seconds of judgment required to realize that they might not back up the conspiracy theory he wanted to peddle.<\/p>\n

The texts never mentioned Atlanta. Schmitt and his team seemingly found texts, crafted the loony theory they wanted to lay out, and never bothered pushing any further. One of the keys to understanding the modern conservative movement is a post (shared approvingly by resident CNN conservative Scott Jennings<\/a>) \u201cThe problem with left-leaning media is their intrinsically more strict with their propaganda to only using verifiable sources\u2026.\u201d That\u2019s the nut of it. Conservatives see facts as annoying afterbirth of propaganda instead of the basis of a non-psychotic view of the world. That\u2019s the mindset that grabs a text, assumes it\u2019s probably about Jack Smith secretly huddling with Fani Willis, and calls it good enough.<\/p>\n

And the staff almost assuredly bought in, contributing to the error through either inaction or active encouragement. But this isn\u2019t on the pup lawyers. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s useful to know who they are, if only to revisit this when Donald Trump attempts to put one or both on the appellate bench before this is all over. So all the credit in the world to Kabas for working that out. At the same time, I suspect some Republicans are helping push stories about the staff to give Schmitt convenient bodies to shove under the bus \u2014 assuming he ever figures out that he\u2019s wrong. Let\u2019s not give Schmitt that escape hatch. This is on him. <\/p>\n

Earlier<\/strong>: Senator Accuses Jack Smith Of Perjury Because Missouri Lawmaker Too Dumb To Know About The Iowa Hawkeyes<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

\"Headshot\"Joe Patrice<\/a>\u00a0is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. Feel free to\u00a0email<\/a> any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on\u00a0Twitter<\/a>\u00a0or Bluesky<\/a> if you\u2019re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Senator Eric Schmitt spent Tuesday accusing Jack Smith of perjury over a basketball game Smith never attended, in a city he never visited, involving a seat that didn\u2019t exist. By the afternoon, he\u2019d managed to drag Harvard Law School and \u2014 predictably \u2014 ASSLaw into the mess. For the uninitiated, Schmitt asked Smith whether he […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-164031","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164031","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=164031"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164031\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=164031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=164031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=164031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}