参议院司法委员会的民主党人指责其共和党同僚违反委员会规则，因他们在上周质询杰克·史密斯时，未能分享一份文件，而这份文件正是此前关于体育队伍的令人困惑的失误言论的基础。他们还要求这位前特别检察官道歉。参议员埃里克·施密特（共和党，密苏里州）在指责史密斯曾出席亚特兰大老鹰队的一场NBA比赛后，也遭到了批评，此举暗示史密斯可能曾与同为特朗普派检察官的富尔顿县地方检察官法尼·威利斯（民主党）会面。
Senate Judiciary Democrats accused their GOP counterparts of violating committee rules by failing to share documents that served as the basis for a confusing flub about sports teams when questioning Jack Smith last week. They've also demanded an apology for the former special counsel. Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) has faced backlash after he accused Smith of attending an Atlanta Hawks NBA game, implying he may have met with fellow Trump prosecutor Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis (D).
史密斯否认曾与她见过面。这个问题让史密斯感到困惑，他后来回忆称，自己当时参加的是爱荷华大学鹰眼队与马里兰大学海狸队之间的一场比赛。由委员会排名成员迪克·杜宾（民主党，伊利诺伊州）主导的民主党信函指出，多数党有义务将其收到的记录与少数党共享。“截至本信函发出之日，我们仍未收到这些记录。我们要求你们立即提供这些以及所有你们此前隐瞒的文件，承诺今后完全遵守参议院规则，并代表委员会向史密斯先生就他在本次听证会期间所遭受的不可接受的人身攻击和伪证指控道歉。”信函中写道。
Smith has denied ever meeting her. The question befuddled Smith, who later recalled he attended a game between the Iowa Hawkeyes and the Maryland Terrapins around that same time. The Democrats' letter, spearheaded by ranking member Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), notes that the majority is required to share records it receives with the minority. “As of the date of this letter, we still have not received these records. We request that you immediately provide these and all other documents that you have withheld, commit to fully complying with Senate rules in the future, and apologize to Mr. Smith on behalf of the Committee for the unacceptable personal attacks and false accusations of perjury he faced during this hearing,” the letter states.
杜宾称施密特的质询是“试图在史密斯先生与佐治亚州富尔顿县地方检察官之间捏造关联。短信记录仅表明，施密特参议员在依赖一份文件之前，连最基本的核实工作都没有做到。”他还写道：“尽管如此，施密特参议员仍错误地向史密斯先生断言：‘我认为你已经作伪证了’，并不可原谅地称他为‘卑鄙小人’，这种措辞有损本委员会及参议院的尊严。”
Durbin called Schmitt’s questioning “an effort to manufacture a connection between Mr. Smith and the Fulton County Georgia District Attorney. The texts established only that Senator Schmitt had not done the basic due diligence of verifying a document before relying on it.”“Nonetheless, Senator Schmitt incorrectly asserted to Mr. Smith, ‘I think you’ve already perjured yourself,’ and inexcusably branded him ‘a dirtbag,’ language which is beneath the dignity of this Committee and the Senate,” he wrote.
信函收件人——主席查克·格拉斯利（共和党，艾奥瓦州）的一名女发言人驳斥了这一说法，并指出该参议员近期也参与了对史密斯的调查，包括审查了向保守派团体提供的少量捐款。
A spokeswoman for Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), to whom the letter is addressed, rejected the idea, noting the senator's own recent work investigating Smith, including that he reviewed small dollar donations made to conservative groups.
“正是杰克·史密斯需要向成千上万被他本人及其团队肆意践踏的美国人道歉，”发言人克莱尔·斯拉特里在一份声明中表示。《国会山报》已经获得了该委员会民主党人目前寻求的消息内容，这些消息显示施密特质询所依据的证据十分有限。这些短信内容仅限于2024年2月3日当晚的几次交流，完全没有提及任何团队名称——相反，短信主要显示史密斯团队的检察官们正在协调寻找该区域的座位，并同意在半场休息时互相交流。
“It’s Jack Smith who owes an apology to the thousands of Americans he and his staff ran roughshod over,” spokeswoman Clare Slattery said in a statement. The Hill has obtained the messages the committee’s Democrats now seek, which show the limited basis for Schmitt’s line of questioning. The texts amount to a few exchanges the night of Feb. 3, 2024, and don’t reference a team name at all — instead largely showing prosecutors on Smith’s team coordinating over finding their seats in the area and agreeing to mingle at halftime.
在询问109排是否有座位为史密斯预留后，他的一名团队成员问是否还有空位可以加入他们。“我们在201区，位置偏高，但靠近中场。半场休息时我会下去打招呼，”史密斯当时的副手JP·库尼在短信中写道。史密斯在上周的听证会上告诉议员们，他之所以去马里兰大学的比赛，是因为他有兴趣观看爱荷华州明星球员凯特琳·克拉克。
After asking if a seat in row 109 was reserved for Smith, a member of his team asked if there might be room to join them. “We are in 201. High; but center court. I will swing down at half to say hello,” JP Cooney, Smith’s then-deputy, wrote in the text. Smith told lawmakers during last week’s hearing that he went to the Maryland game because he was interested in seeing Iowa star player Caitlin Clark.
尽管这些内容在文件的其他部分有所提及，但仍有迹象表明该团队对女子篮球也感兴趣。2024年3月底——也就是检察官们外出观赛后几周——史密斯的团队再次讨论篮球事宜，检察官大卫·哈巴赫写道：“附言：今晚8点ESPN会播出凯特琳·克拉克的比赛。”施密特曾表示，他主要关注的是这些短信的时间点，并将其与亚特兰大比赛的开赛时间进行比对。
Though included elsewhere in the documents, there were signs the group was interested in women’s basketball. In late March 2024 — a few weeks after the prosecutors’ outing — Smith’s staff again discusses basketball, with prosecutor David Harbach writing, “P.s. Caitlin Clark on tonight at 8pm on ESPN.”Schmitt has said he was largely focused on the timing of the texts, matching that to the tipoff of the Atlanta game.
他的团队还表示，施密特并未看到有关克拉克的短信。“施密特参议员从未见过提及凯特琳·克拉克的短信，这正是他询问杰克·史密斯当时在看哪场比赛的原因。如果施密特收到了那些短信，他当然就不会问史密斯参加了哪场比赛。正如参议员后来所说，他终于明白自己和杰克·史密斯唯一共同点，就是他们都是大学体育的球迷，”这位参议员的发言人上周表示。
His team also said he did not see the messages about Clark. “Senator Schmitt has never seen texts referencing Caitlin Clark, hence why he asked what game Jack Smith was at. Had Schmitt received those text messages of course he wouldn’t have asked which game he attended. As the Senator has since said, he learned the one thing he and Jack Smith have in common is they are a fan of college sports,” a spokesperson for the senator said last week.
杜宾称赞了参议员……明尼苏达州民主党参议员艾米·克洛布查尔敦促施密特再次展示他在质询史密斯时闪现的短信，并帮助厘清头绪，指出这位参议员找错了团队。“这场闹剧最终让委员会在全国面前丢尽了脸：为了急于伏击证人并制造一个病毒式传播的高光时刻，共和党议员违反了参议院规则，没有与少数党共享委员会记录，并根据他们对这些记录的自身误解，虚假指控证人作伪证，”他写道。
Durbin credits Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) with pressing Schmitt to again show the text messages he flashed during his questioning of Smith and helping connect the dots that the senator had the wrong team. “This farce culminated in a national embarrassment for the Committee, when, in their eagerness to ambush a witness and manufacture a viral moment, Republican Members violated Senate rules by not sharing committee records with the minority and falsely accused a witness of perjury based on their own misunderstanding of these records,” he wrote.