The Republican senator thought he was going to dunk on his opponent. Instead, he ended up flat on his back in a wild moment on Capitol Hill on Tuesday. Get ready for a bizarre story that somehow includes basketball star Caitlin Clark.

And it’s what the Washington media was buzzing about Tuesday.

Here’s what happened.

Jack Smith, the former special counsel who led two investigations of Donald Trump after his first term, both of which led to criminal charges, appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday. While the hearing was a chance for Republicans to pound away at Smith, the big media focus of the day was Missouri Republican Sen. Eric Schmitt’s embarrassing mistake.

Mediaite’s Alex Griffing called it an “epic face-plant,” adding that it sparked “an avalanche of criticism from journalists and media pundits.”

Perhaps a better way to put it was that Schmitt shot a massive air ball. You’ll see what I mean.

The New York Times’ Devlin Barrett and Charlie Savage wrote, “Senator Eric Schmitt struck a conspiratorial tone and suggested Mr. Smith had gone to Atlanta to meet a scandal-marred prosecutor there who had also charged Mr. Trump. When Mr. Smith denied it, the senator accused him of perjury and called him a ‘dirtbag.’”

Schmitt thought he had a gotcha moment, saying he had text messages from Smith’s team that he believed showed Smith had attended an Atlanta Hawks game in February 2024. Smith seemed baffled by the allegation, saying he had not been to Atlanta and certainly not to an Atlanta Hawks game.

Schmitt said, “I’ll give you a second to process it so you don’t, you know, perjure yourself. I think you’ve already perjured yourself.”

Turns out, it was Schmitt who was left humiliated after Smith recalled that in February 2024, he did go to a basketball game. He went to a University of Maryland women’s basketball game to watch then-University of Iowa star Caitlin Clark.

The game was in Maryland, not Atlanta.

Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota then figured out what likely happened: Schmitt seemingly confused Iowa’s nickname (Hawkeyes) with Atlanta’s NBA nickname — the Hawks. Klobuchar told Schmitt he should apologize to Smith, particularly for calling him a “dirtbag.” Schmitt refused to back down, and Klobuchar added, “I’m going to begin my questions now. But I think that people should have their facts straight before they accuse someone of being a dirtbag and not get the teams wrong.”

Veteran journalist Chuck Todd tweeted, “Just an embarrassing moment for GOP Sen. Schmitt. What a disaster. Confirmation bias virus runs deep with Schmitt.”

ABC News’ Jonathan Karl tweeted, “This was bizarre. I have never seen ‘evidence’ introduced so quickly and then hidden. Senator Eric Schmitt accuses Jack Smith of perjury for denying he went to an Atlanta Hawks game in February 2024. As it turns out, he went to an Iowa Hawkeyes game (in Maryland).”

MeidasTouch chief Washington correspondent Scott MacFarlane, formerly of CBS News, tweeted, “An absolutely brutal mistake by Sen Eric Schmitt (R-MO) and his staff. 24 years of covering Congressional hearings … I’ve never seen anything like this.”

The Bulwark’s Sam Stein called it a “completely humiliating moment” for Schmitt.

In a piece for Esquire, Charles P. Pierce wrote of Schmitt, “The man lacks only a red rubber nose and some floppy shoes.”

Pierce later added that “this farce of a committee meeting went on, forcing me to renew my appeal to my fellow citizens. Vote for conservatives if you must. But please, stop electing idiots to high office. It’s a millstone on the rest of us.”

Even conservative CNN contributor Scott Jennings said on air that it was a “rough moment,” adding, “And I say that as someone who likes Eric Schmitt very much. I think he’s been a really good politician and senator in Missouri, so obviously, this was a mistake.”

Politico might have had the best take of all: “Eric Schmitt pins down Jack Smith — as a Caitlin Clark fan.”

Trump vs. the media

Two weeks ago, President Donald Trump barred three news outlets — CNN, MS NOW and Politico — from the White House. The outlets took Trump to court, where a federal judge issued a 14-day temporary restraining order allowing them to regain their White House press credentials.

Now the three outlets are asking a federal judge to block the ban until the case plays out. The restraining order is set to expire on Oct. 8.

In a filing late Monday, the lawyers for the outlets wrote, “The White House’s words and actions leave little doubt that it will immediately reinstitute a complete ban of CNN, MS NOW, and POLITICO if allowed the opportunity. Because the ban is an unlawful assault on the most fundamental First Amendment freedoms and will inflict irreparable harm on Plaintiffs and the public if not restrained, this Court should preliminarily enjoin its enforcement pending the resolution of this case.”

In a statement to The Associated Press, Theodore J. Boutrous Jr., lead attorney for the media outlets, said the ban is “a blatant violation of the First Amendment and due process,” adding, “The president and his administration have continued to make clear that this ban has only one purpose: to punish reporting he doesn’t like.”

Boutrous went on to say, “That’s retaliation and viewpoint discrimination, pure and simple. With the district court’s temporary restraining order expiring this week, it is critical to ensure that the White House continues to be prevented from implementing this unconstitutional ban on the free press.”

The administration continues to argue that access to the White House is a privilege, not a right.

Meanwhile, Michael Wilner, Washington bureau chief for the Los Angeles Times, writes: “With bans and taunts, Trump escalates his assault on the media.”

In addition to Trump barring some members of the press and praising China for having the “friendliest press corps,” Wilner also noted, “Five times in the last two months, the president has sneered at and insulted female reporters, mocking their appearance or dismissing their credentials.”

Posting an impact

(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

The Washington Post has published its inaugural “Washington Post Impact Report,” which it says is a “collection of journalism through the first half of 2026 that has led to meaningful change in service to our readers and the American public at large.”

In the foreword of the report, Post executive editor Matt Murray wrote, “It’s no secret that The Post has been through a challenging period, amid upheaval in our industry. But, as this report clearly shows, our commitment to significant, impactful journalism in the public interest has not wavered.”

The “challenging period” that Murray was referring to was, undoubtedly, the Post having mass layoffs in February. A third of the Post’s overall staff was laid off, including more than 300 journalists. There were severe cuts to the metro and foreign desks, as well as the sports department, which was pretty much gutted. (The Post has since hired some sportswriters.)

Marty Baron, the legendary former executive editor of the Post, wrote at the time, “This ranks among the darkest days in the history of one of the world’s greatest news organizations.”

Those who survived the Post cuts, however, have done good work — something that the Post, clearly, wanted to share with its audience.

The report features 40 stories that, the Post says, range from “lawsuits by several state attorneys general about ICE’s plans to retrofit warehouses into detention centers to a bipartisan congressional bill calling for reform of how the government deploys subpoenas to obtain communication records.”

The Post claims it has reported more than 200 “scoops and exclusives” so far this year, with August producing the most monthly total since April 2020.

Media tidbits

• The New York Times’ Emma Goldberg with “The Student Journalists Who Never Let the Cornell Assault Case Go.”
• The New York Times’ Sheera Frenkel, Dustin Volz and Dylan Freedman with “OpenAI Ignored Employees Who Warned It Wasn’t Doing Enough About Security.”
• CNBC’s Sarah Whitten and Julia Boorstin with “Disney laying off around 300 employees in latest cuts under new CEO Josh D’Amaro.”
• Nieman Lab’s Sarah Scire with “NPR, the quintessential audio news brand, adapts to a video-first future.”
• People’s Brenton Blanchet with “Harry Smith Returning to NBC News as Contributor 2 Years After His Exit.” Smith, 75, will do “Common Good” features for “Today,” “NBC Nightly News” and NBC News live events. Smith said, “I am thrilled to have the opportunity to do what I have done for so long: tell America’s story. I have long believed that there is more that unites us than divides us. It’s in our bones. It’s part of America’s DNA.”
• Sarah Ellison, a longtime media business writer for The Washington Post, tweets that she has joined Politico Magazine. Ellison was caught up in the massive Post layoffs earlier this year.

Hot type

• CNN’s Priscilla Alvarez and Norma Galeana with “Inside the Texas courtroom where toddlers face immigration judges.”

More resources for journalists

• Build stronger fact-checking skills with Fact-Checking for Everyone, a new self-directed course from Poynter’s International Fact-Checking Network. Learn how to evaluate sources, verify digital content and use professional fact-checking techniques in your everyday work. Enroll now.
• Join a free Poynter webinar on Covering Immigration with Care on Oct. 21 that gives practical guidance on trauma-informed interviewing, ethical storytelling and reporting beyond crisis-driven narratives. Enroll now.
• Funders: Learn how to support local news ethically and effectively with a free, self-directed course on making informed investments while protecting journalistic independence. Enroll now.

Have feedback or a tip? Email Poynter senior media writer Tom Jones at tjones@poynter.org.

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