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Katie Britt’s stunned expression came as Missouri Sen. Eric Schmitt questioned former special counsel Jack Smith about an Atlanta Hawks basketball game. According to Fox News, Schmitt had mistaken references to the Iowa Hawkeyes for the NBA team: Smith denied attending the Atlanta game, and the report says he had attended an Iowa–Maryland women’s college basketball game instead. A pool camera captured Britt’s reaction as the mix-up emerged.

What happened in the Senate exchange?

Fox News reported that during Tuesday’s Senate testimony, Schmitt asked Smith about an Atlanta Hawks game on February 3, 2024, citing text messages that Schmitt said indicated Smith had attended. Smith denied going to that NBA game. Schmitt then accused Smith of lying under oath.

The report says the apparent evidence referred to the Iowa Hawkeyes, not the Atlanta Hawks. Smith had attended an Iowa–Maryland women’s college basketball game that night. The article characterizes Schmitt’s accusation as false, but the account available here does not include an official hearing transcript or other primary record to independently verify the exchange.

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Britt, a Republican senator from Alabama, was seated beside Schmitt. A pool camera captured her expression as the team-name confusion became apparent; that reaction became the defining visual in Fox News’s headline.

How did Schmitt respond afterward?

Schmitt later posted on X, “Who knew Jack Smith was a Caitlin Clark fan?” Fox News presented the remark as an effort to defuse the controversy. The post drew further criticism, according to the report.

What were the other moments in the roundup?

Fox News’s roundup included three other examples of political messaging or communication misfires. They differ in nature and consequence from the Senate exchange.

Troy Jackson’s boba-tea campaign video

Maine Democratic Senate nominee Troy Jackson posted a video of himself sipping boba tea while criticizing wealthy interests supporting his Republican opponent. Fox News quoted online critics who called the video ineffective or inauthentic. Those selected reactions do not establish how viewers overall received it.

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John Fetterman’s verbal slip

The report said Pennsylvania Democratic Sen. John Fetterman briefly referred to himself as a “lifelong Republican” and immediately corrected himself.

Sarah Huckabee Sanders’s Medicaid advertisement

Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders faced criticism over an advertisement featuring a fictional young white male Medicaid recipient named Brad, portrayed as a gamer who chooses not to work. Critics objected to the ad’s racial framing; that criticism does not establish the governor’s intent.

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What does “viral” establish here?

The headline describes these episodes as viral moments, but the report provides no audience, view-count, or engagement figures that would measure their reach. The examples show different kinds of political communication problems: a mistaken factual premise in a hearing, a campaign video that drew criticism, a quickly corrected verbal slip, and a public advertisement criticized for its portrayal of a Medicaid recipient.

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