Smith stood by his decision to charge President Donald Trump, including in the classified documents case. “If asked whether to prosecute a former President based on the same facts today, I would do so regardless of whether that President was a Republican or a Democrat,” he told senators. Committee Republicans said whistleblower records showed his team collected 4,782 personal checks from donors to Trump and groups aligned with him between September 2019 and August 2023.
Senator Eric Schmitt also defended his questioning after wrongly accusing Smith of perjury over his attendance at a basketball game, saying, “My job is to ask questions.” The Missouri Republican had confused an Iowa Hawkeyes game in Maryland with an Atlanta Hawks game while trying to link Smith to Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. Senator Amy Klobuchar demanded an apology over the error and Schmitt’s insult of Smith.