Lead report from Salon.com
What happened
Senator Eric Schmitt faced criticism and fallout after citing text messages during a hearing to claim former special counsel Jack Smith attended a basketball game in Georgia. Reports and reviews of the text messages showed they did not actually reference any basketball team names. Media outlets and commentators across the political spectrum reported on the debunked narrative and the resulting scrutiny.
Outlets across the spectrum agree that Senator Eric Schmitt cited text messages during a hearing involving former special counsel Jack Smith, and that those texts did not contain basketball team names as claimed.
Left-leaning outlets like Salon.com and HuffPress focused heavily on mocking the senator's error as a failed gotcha and right-wing propaganda. Center outlets like The Hill and NewsNation provided straightforward coverage of the text messages lacking team names and the bipartisan fallout. Right-leaning outlets like The Dispatch and the Washington Examiner also reported on the failed attack, while Breitbart News and The Federalist focused on a separate bar complaint filed against Jack Smith by Senator Bill Hagerty.
Written by Parallax News with AI assistance from the 8 reports compared below. How this works
Slide to compare coverage
Center · The Hill
Bias ratings describe an outlet's overall coverage—not whether this particular article is accurate.
Smith’s game-day texts reviewed by Schmitt never referenced basketball team names
Text messages obtained by The Hill show former special counsel Jack Smith’s staff didn’t reference any basketball team names, adding to the confusion around why Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) errantly accused the prosecutor of attending a game in Atlanta in an effort to tie him to a Georgia prosecution of President Trump. It’s a remarkable…
Read at The HillChoose a story to feature it above.
Salon.com ·
The Hill ·
The Federalist ·
left: 2 · center: 2 · right: 4. Counts describe displayed outlets, not independent investigations or the accuracy of their reporting.
Source context: MAGA media was ready to amplify the Missouri senator's conspiracy theory. It turned out to be laughably false
The wording comparison is calculated from the featured headlines. It is a reading aid; it does not infer an outlet's motives or verify claims. Follow the original sources for evidence and context. See our source directory.
Coverage from 9/30/2026, 7:22:07 PM UTC to 9/30/2026, 10:42:46 PM UTC. A missing source may reflect feed or matching limitations.
Open a headline at its original source, or choose “Show as featured story” to compare it above.
Left · Salon.com
Far Right · The Federalist
Center · NewsNation
Center Right · Washington Examiner
Center Right · The Dispatch
2 publishers
MAGA media was ready to amplify the Missouri senator's conspiracy theory. It turned out to be laughably false
“Let’s see their bubble get popped,” The Daily Show correspondent said.
2 publishers
Text messages obtained by The Hill show former special counsel Jack Smith’s staff didn’t reference any basketball team names, adding to the confusion around why Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) errantly accused the prosecutor of attending a game in Atlanta in an effort to tie him to a Georgia prosecution of President Trump. It’s a remarkable…
“Somebody didn't do their homework,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal said.
4 publishers
Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., filed a bar complaint against former Special Counsel Jack Smith on Wednesday for his “serious misconduct” in running the Biden-era Arctic Frost lawfare against Donald Trump and other Republicans. Jack Smith is “a blatantly partisan actor and his prosecutorial misconduct damaged our constitutional order. He should never be able…
During a congressional hearing this week, Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO) claimed former special counsel Jack Smith once attended an NBA game in Georgia to tie him to Fulton County’s prosecution of President Donald Trump, but according to a report, the texts the senator cited did not reference any basketball team names. Schmitt accused Smith of…
Plus: On the ‘superintelligence’ rebrand.
Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN) has filed a bar complaint against former special counsel Jack Smith declaring that "his prosecutorial misconduct damaged our constitutional order."
