A video of Alabama Republican Senator Katie Britt looking visibly stunned during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing circulated on social media after her colleague, Senator Eric Schmitt, stumbled in his questioning of former special counsel Jack Smith.
Schmitt, a Missouri Republican, attempted to corner Smith over an alleged 2024 trip to an Atlanta Hawks basketball game, suggesting the trip pointed to coordination with Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis in the prosecution of Donald Trump. During the exchange, Schmitt accused Smith of committing perjury.
“You will go down as a total dirtbag,” Schmitt said.
Smith corrected him, pointing out that Schmitt had mistaken the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks for the Iowa Hawkeyes women’s basketball team.
“I recall going to a University of Maryland basketball game where Caitlin Clark was playing right around that time, and the Marshal Service was there with me,” Smith said. “You can check if that was the exact date. It was Maryland playing Iowa — I think February of 2024.”
Following the exchange, Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar criticized Schmitt’s aggressive line of questioning.
“I think people should have their facts straight before they accuse someone of being a dirtbag,” Klobuchar said.
Klobuchar again criticized Schmitt at the end of her questioning of Smith, who led the federal investigations into Donald Trump's actions surrounding the January 6 Capitol attack and his handling of classified documents.
Footage from MS NOW captured Britt sitting next to Schmitt as the exchange unfolded. The camera slowly zoomed in on the Alabama senator as her expression shifted from open-mouthed disbelief to a visible gulp while Smith corrected her colleague.
Journalists and commentators quickly reacted to Britt’s reaction online.
MS NOW Director of Congress Matt Fuller posted on X that Britt, a former congressional staffer, “knew she was watching a mythical staff f--k up.”
“The type of f**k up that interns will hear about as a cautionary tale on their first day of work on June 1, 2047,” Fuller wrote.
Other online observers, too, weighed in on the footage.
“Can someone please set this slow pan-in to the Curb Your Enthusiasm theme?” Matthew Chapman posted on X.
User Adam Cochran wrote, “Even other GOP Senator’s are dumbfounded at Schmitt’s stupidity!”
And Brandon Moor commented on the platform that Britt looked “like she had just seen a ghost, and immediately wanted to throw up.”
The Independent has contacted Britt’s office for comment.
