Schmitt had claimed Smith went to an Atlanta Hawks game in February 2024 so he could also meet with Fani Willis' team, accused him of perjury for denying it and told him he would "go down as a total dirtbag." Klobuchar said, "For a U.S. Senator to have false information and imply based on a confusion about the name of a team, which I knew knowing my Midwestern sports, and imply you're in another city that you were somehow involved that day in what was happening in Georgia and then call you a dirt bag is something that deserves an apology."
Schmitt later appeared on The Charlie Kirk Show, where he replied "Yeah" when hosts said he had caught Smith at the NBA game in Atlanta, with no mention that his facts were wrong. The confrontation came during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in which Smith defended his decision to bring charges against Trump, saying his investigation developed "proof beyond a reasonable doubt that President Trump engaged in serious crimes against our nation." Grassley said Smith's team obtained 4,782 personal checks from donors to Trump and Trump-aligned groups between September 2019 and August 2023, as well as communications from multiple media outlets including The Federalist.