What to know about the Jack Smith hearing today:
Former special counsel Jack Smith is testifying Tuesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee as part of its investigation into his probes of President Trump.
Smith secured two indictments against Mr. Trump: the first involving his handling of sensitive government documents, and the second involving his alleged attempt to subvert the transfer of power after the 2020 election. Mr. Trump pleaded not guilty to charges in both cases, and they ended after he was elected to a second term.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, the Judiciary Committee's chairman, accused Smith of taking "partisanship to a new level." Sen. Dick Durbin, the panel's top Democrat, accused Republicans of trying to "contort themselves to support President Trump's lies."
In his opening statement, Smith told senators that he has "no partisan loyalties." He said he and his investigators "developed proof beyond a reasonable doubt that President Trump engaged in serious crimes against our nation."
Watch the hearing live on CBS News in the player above and follow live updates below.Schmitt appears to confuse University of Iowa Hawkeyes with the Atlanta Hawks while accusing Smith of perjury
Smith was pressed by Sen. Eric Schmitt, a Republican from Missouri, about whether he attended a NBA game between the Atlanta Hawks and Golden State Warriors in Atlanta in early February 2024.
Schmitt said Smith's alleged attendance at the game would be significant because the game occurred around the time that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis revealed she had a romantic relationship with Nathan Wade, whom she hired as a special prosecutor to work on an investigation into alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election in Georgia.
Smith said he did not attend that game, but may have flown through Atlanta on the way to Florida. Still, he told senators he "definitely did not go" to an Atlanta Hawks game.
The former special counsel also said he never met Wade or Willis while he was special counsel.
Schmitt then displayed a poster board with text messages from members of Smith's team, including one asking if "109 Row 1" was reserved for Smith. Schmitt said the messages showed Smith was in Atlanta and attended the NBA game on Feb. 3, 2024.
I don't think you know that we have this stuff, so I'll give you a second to process it so you don't, you know, perjure yourself," Schmitt told Smith.
But the poster board on display was quickly taken down by Schmitt's staff and Smith asked to see it again.
Schmitt said he would put the information "in a follow-up."
"I think you've already perjured yourself," the senator said, calling Smith a "total dirtbag."
Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat from Minnesota, continued to push for a copy of the text messages referenced by Schmitt and said Smith should be given the opportunity to see them.
When the poster with the texts was displayed again, Smith said he did attend a women's college basketball game in early February 2024 between the University of Maryland Terrapins and the University of Iowa Hawkeyes to see Hawkeyes star Caitlin Clark play.
That game took place in College Park, Maryland. Klobuchar suggested that Schmitt was mistaking the Hawkeyes for the Atlanta Hawks.
"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 that you were in another city, that you were somehow involved that day in what was happening in Georgia, and then call you a dirtbag is something that deserves an apology," Klobuchar said.
By Melissa Quinn
live source ^: https://www.cbsnews.com/live-updates/ja ... e-hearing/