How the Atlanta Hawks overshadowed Jack Smith’s Senate testimony

Today’s newsletter highlights:

• Tanya Miller launches ad campaign in her bid for Georgia attorney general.
• Brian Kemp wants Keisha Lance Bottoms to be the face of Georgia Democrats.
• Rick Jackson is a key investor in a proposed oil refinery in Texas.

Not those Hawks

Former Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee at the Capitol in Washington on Tuesday. (Allison Robbert/AP)

Former Trump special prosecutor Jack Smith’s testimony before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday was supposed to be a high-stakes showdown with Republicans. Instead, it led to an embarrassing turn for one GOP senator.

U.S. Sen. Eric Schmitt of Missouri accused Smith of meeting with Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who led her own investigation of Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia. He asked if Smith had ever been to Atlanta during his time as special prosecutor. When Smith said he had not, Schmitt pointed to text messages from Smith’s staff, saying they proved he attended a Hawks game in Atlanta on Feb. 3, 2024.

“I think you’ve already perjured yourself,” Schmitt said.

Smith seemed bewildered. He soon clarified that he did attend a basketball game that day. But it wasn’t the Atlanta Hawks. It was in Maryland between the University of Maryland and the Iowa Hawkeyes, who were then led by phenom Caitlin Clark.

“The Marshals Service was there with me. You can check if that was the exact date,” Smith said.

By that time, Schmitt had already called Smith a “dirtbag.” U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., quickly pointed out that Schmitt was way off.

“Perhaps you should have looked at it more carefully,” she said. “I think that people should have their facts straight before they accuse someone of being a dirtbag and not get the teams wrong.”

The entire exchange, including a close-up of Alabama Republican U.S. Sen. Katie Britt’s look of secondhand embarrassment, quickly went viral.

Willis weighed in on X, telling Schmitt “I love Caitlin Clark but never saw her or Jack Smith at an Atlanta Hawks game.” Schmitt, for his part, appeared to make light of the exchange.

“Who knew Jack Smith was a Caitlin Clark fan?” he said.

Things to know

(Photo Illustration: Jessi Esparza / AJC | Source: Getty Images)

Good morning! The midterms are in 35 days. Monday is the deadline to register to vote. Here are three things to know for today:

• Lobbyists spent nearly $85,000 on trips to the beach and other locales for dozens of Georgia lawmakers in recent months, David Wickert reports.
• In his final year as Georgia’s secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger is trying to build confidence in the state’s elections at a time when the people running them are on edge, Caleb Groves reports.
• Politics columnist Patricia Murphy writes about Jon Ossoff’s cold calls to Georgians and how it’s helping him in his reelection campaign.

Big spender

Democratic nominee for attorney general Tanya Miller speaks during the Democratic Party of Georgia convention in Savannah last month. (Arvin Temkar/AJC)

Democrat Tanya Miller is putting seven figures behind a pointed message in Georgia’s attorney general race: Experience counts. And a little Southern shade doesn’t hurt.

Her new TV ad highlights her work as a state and federal prosecutor before cutting to an interviewer asking Republican rival Brian Strickland whether he has any background prosecuting criminal cases.

“I do not,” he says in the clip. “I was an intern.”

Miller’s response: “Intern? Bless his heart.”

The spot sharpens Miller’s effort to make her experience as a former prosecutor a defining issue in her race against the Trump-endorsed Republican.

Strickland, meanwhile, is stressing his own experience as a civil litigator over hundreds of trials and a veteran legislator in the Georgia General Assembly.

Rerun

Then-Democratic nominee for governor Stacey Abrams addresses her supporters during an election night watch party in 2022. (Miguel Martinez/AJC)

Brian Kemp spent the better part of a decade trying to make Stacey Abrams the face of Georgia Democrats. Now he’s trying to transfer that role to Keisha Lance Bottoms.

At a Republican rally in Forsyth this week, the governor linked the two Democrats as he warned supporters that the 2026 contest is a replay of the 2018 race that first sent him to the Governor’s Mansion.

“We saw it with Stacey Abrams, and now we’re seeing it with Keisha Lance Bottoms,” Kemp said, soon sharpening the comparison.

“This is 2018 all over again,” he added. “Everything is on the line in our state.”

There’s something of a political symmetry. Abrams twice tried to become the first Black woman elected governor in U.S. history. Now Bottoms is seeking the same distinction, though she has avoided making the history-making prospect a centerpiece of her campaign.

But the changing of the guard is more complicated than Kemp’s comparison suggests.

Abrams has been relatively quiet in Georgia politics this cycle since ruling out another bid for governor. She has endorsed down-ticket Democrats. But Abrams, whose deputies didn’t comment for this item, hasn’t yet campaigned with Bottoms, and she’s never been particularly close with the former Atlanta mayor.

Listen up

AJC reporter Lautaro Grinspan poses for a portrait outside The Atlanta Journal-Constitution offices in Atlanta earlier this month. (Arvin Temkar/AJC)

Today on the “Politically Georgia” podcast AJC reporters Martha Dalton and Lautaro Grinspan join the show for the third installment of our Georgia’s Choice series taking a deep dive into where the candidates for governor stand on public education and immigration enforcement.

You can listen and subscribe to “Politically Georgia” for free on Apple Podcasts, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts.

Have a question or comment for the show? Email us at politicallygeorgia@ajc.com or give us a call at 770-810-5297 and you could be featured on a future episode.

Texas ties

Georgia Republican nominee for governor Rick Jackson speaks to reporters during an event announcing his plan to support Georgia farmers at Cagle’s Family Farm on Thursday in Canton. (Hyosub Shin/AJC)

Rick Jackson’s data center investment isn’t his only major development project in Texas.

We reported over the summer that the Republican nominee is a key investor in a proposed oil refinery in Brownsville that President Donald Trump has enthusiastically promoted.

The project is backed by India’s Reliance Industries, which has struck a long-term deal to buy the refinery’s products. A deposition in an unrelated legal dispute offers Jackson’s own account of the project and its overseas ties.

Jackson described it as a roughly $2 billion to $3 billion undertaking that would also include a power plant. He said BP would supply raw materials and purchase products from the refinery, while “a company from India” was preparing to sign a major contract to buy its output.

Trump has since said India’s Reliance Industries is investing in the project.

Jackson campaign spokesperson Garrison Douglas said the investments are no secret because Jackson has publicly disclosed his “passive” stakes. And he renewed the campaign’s demand that Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms disclose the clients of a consulting venture she launched after leaving the Atlanta mayor’s office.

Bottoms has said she would do so once Jackson reveals the full extent of his companies and investments.

“Rick has nothing to hide,” Douglas said. “The same clearly can’t be said about Keisha Lance Bottoms.”