{
  "id": 10967100,
  "title": "Sen. Eric Schmitt Doubles Down After Viral ‘Hawks’ Flub",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/30/sen-eric-schmitt-doubles-down-after-viral-hawks-flub",
  "topic": "culture",
  "section": "Culture",
  "published": "2026-09-30T14:36:39.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Front Office Sports",
    "slug": "front-office-sports",
    "url": "https://frontofficesports.com/article/eric-schmitt-caitlin-clark-jack-smith/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Sen. Eric Schmitt is maintaining his stance after a viral incident where he mistakenly referred to Jack Smith as attending an Atlanta Hawks game instead of an Iowa Hawkeyes game during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. The Republican senator from Missouri insisted during an interview with Front Office Sports that there was no confusion between Hawkeyes and Hawks, clarifying that he asked Smith if he was in Atlanta at a Hawks game due to the timing of the events. Smith, who was actually at an Iowa Hawkeyes women’s basketball game, responded that he was indeed at the Hawkeyes game and that his testimony was that he was somewhere else. Schmitt believed he was close to exposing Smith's potential perjury, citing text messages and the timeline of the events.",
  "summary": "The senator appeared to mix up the Atlanta Hawks and Iowa Hawkeyes.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}