The Ben Shapiro Show - Ep. 317 - Is Trump On The Ropes...Or On Offense?

On Sunday, LGBT protesters decided to march through Los Angeles, shutting down traffic as they went, before meeting up in gay Mecca West Hollywood with speeches from House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, and RuPaul. But the theme of the day was not tolerance and diversity, but hatred for President Trump. On Monday, the first anniversary of the Pulse nightclub massacre in Orlando, Florida, President Trump marked the event by stating that a radical Islamic terrorist targeted the gay and lesbian citizens because of their sexual orientation. It s a strike at the heart and soul of who we are as a nation, and an assault on the ability of free people to live their lives, love who they want, and express their identity. All of which shows that identity politics for the left is more of a strategy than a principled adherence to the notion of protecting supposed minority victims. While the left maintains that government must be bigger, stronger, and more invasive, in order to protect the rights of various political identity groups, and while the left polarizes those identity groups for political purposes, the truth is: identity politics is a mask for leftism, not an outgrowth of it. Which means that it s foolish for conservatives to engage in identity politics to counter the left. For the left, each identity group is a brick already stacked in the leftist wall, merely cemented in place with identity group politics. The right can try to chip away at the cement, but the brick is still going to be part of the "winding in place" of the leftist "walls." The problem is, instead is that the wall itself is not the brick itself, but rather the idea itself. We should try to destroy the wall, not the idea of people as atoms in a larger, broader bricks to begin with and the idea that people as individuals not as atoms a tool for the endgame but an end game of the whole thing that is the goal . in which people or ? which means that what does that mean? I want to know who you want me to be? Ben Shapiro: What do you think of me to do with the gate before I open up the front door before I go to the gate? I ve got a ring that allows me to actually see the person I ve done it in minutes, right?

00:00:00.000 On Sunday, LGBT protesters decided to march through Los Angeles, shutting down traffic as they went, before meeting up in gay Mecca West Hollywood, where they were treated to speeches from House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, and, of course, RuPaul.

00:00:15.000 But the theme of the day was not tolerance and diversity.

00:00:17.000 It was hatred for President Trump.

00:00:19.000 Resist stickers festooned garbage cans and telephone poles.

00:00:22.000 People milled it out in anti-Trump t-shirts.

00:00:24.000 In fact, the usual Pride March was recast into a Resist March against the Trump administration.

00:00:31.000 Which is actually kind of weird given that Trump is pro-gay marriage and is the first politician to enter the White House with that position. 0.90

00:00:37.000 Monday marked the first anniversary of a jihadist massacring patrons at an Orlando gay nightclub, an event Trump marked by stating, quote, a radical Islamic terrorist targeted the nightclub not only because he wanted to kill Americans, but in order to execute gay and lesbian citizens because of their sexual orientation. 0.57

00:00:53.000 It's a strike at the heart and soul of who we are as a nation.

00:00:56.000 It's an assault on the ability of free people to live their lives, love who they want, and express their identity.

00:01:01.000 Trump is the first major Republican politician to publicly loft a gay rainbow flag, but Trump is also the first Republican politician to have the honor of watching an LGBT march morph into a movement against him personally.

00:01:13.000 All of which shows that identity politics for the left is more of a strategy than a principled adherence to the notion of protecting supposed minority victims.

00:01:21.000 While the left maintains that government must be bigger and stronger and more invasive,

00:01:25.000 In order to protect the rights of various political identity groups, and while the left polarizes those identity groups for political purposes, the truth is that identity politics is a mask for leftism, not an outgrowth of it.

00:01:37.000 If identity politics were truly organic, if dividing Americans by identity groups truly led them to coalitional politics, you'd expect alliances to shift.

00:01:46.000 LGBT Americans, for example,

00:01:48.000 might support Trump in larger numbers than they'd supported other Republicans.

00:01:52.000 But exit polls show Mitt Romney won more LGBT votes by a solid 8 point margin than Trump did.

00:01:58.000 So what's all this about?

00:01:59.000 Leftism panders to various intersectional groups by positing special benefits for them via government.

00:02:04.000 But if the interests of the groups don't run in favor of leftism, leftism wins out anyway.

00:02:10.000 In other words, most LGBT voters are primarily leftists.

00:02:14.000 Not single-issue identity politics voters.

00:02:16.000 Leftist pandering to identity politics is very often a political ploy designed to grant individuals a feeling of solidarity with fellow identity group members, but it's not an actual principled opposition to a candidate based on that candidate's adherence to the identity group's priorities.

00:02:32.000 All of which means that it's foolish for conservatives to engage in identity politics to counter the left.

00:02:37.000 For the left, each identity group is a brick already stacked in the leftist wall, merely cemented in place with identity group politics.

00:02:44.000 The right can try to chip away at the cement, but the brick is still going to be part of the leftist wall.

00:02:49.000 Instead, conservatives should try to blow up the wall completely.

00:02:51.000 We should try to treat people as individuals rather than as members of identity groups.

00:02:55.000 Destroy the notion of people as atoms in broader bricks to begin with.

00:02:59.000 Identity politics is dangerous, but it's more of a tool than an endgame.

00:03:02.000 The left knows that, which is why an LGBT march can turn into an anti-Trump march at the drop of a hat, even if Trump is fine with Caitlyn Jenner using the women's bathroom at Trump Tower.

00:03:11.000 This is The Ben Shapiro Show.

00:03:11.000 I'm Ben Shapiro.

00:03:18.000 All right, tons to get to.

00:03:18.000 So Attorney General Jeff Sessions is supposed to go before the Senate tomorrow in open hearing.

00:03:23.000 Very smart of Attorney General Sessions.

00:03:24.000 We'll talk about that.

00:03:25.000 We'll talk about Trump actually getting some things done, Republicans actually getting some things done while the media are busy focused on the Comey mania.

00:03:32.000 But before we get to all of that, first, I want to say thank you to our sponsors over at Ring.com.

00:03:37.000 So in the United States, there is a home burglary every 13 seconds.

00:03:40.000 Most of them happen in broad daylight, the way that it usually works.

00:03:43.000 We're good to go!

00:04:02.000 For me, it's great because I'm very safety conscious.

00:04:05.000 That means that I want to know who's at the gate before I open up the gate, and that's what Ring allows me to do.

00:04:10.000 I can actually see the person at the gate before that.

00:04:12.000 Plus, they have a new Ring of Security Kit, which is an advanced motion detection technology to protect your entire property.

00:04:18.000 It's a Ring video doorbell for the front door, a Ring stick-up cam, wireless weatherproof HD camera to keep an eye on other parts of your property.

00:04:26.000 Everything installs in minutes.

00:04:27.000 I've done it myself.

00:04:28.000 And when they work together, they provide 24-7 monitoring of your entire home, whether you're in the living room or whether you're thousands of miles away.

00:04:34.000 We use it in our house all the time when I'm traveling.

00:04:36.000 People don't know that I'm traveling, obviously, with regard to ringing on the doorbell, and I can tell who's there.

00:04:42.000 My wife is very safety conscious as well.

00:04:44.000 We use Ring all the time.

00:04:45.000 Ring.com slash Ben.

00:04:47.000 That's Ring.com slash Ben.

00:04:49.000 And you get $150 off that ring of security kit when you go to ring.com slash Ben right now again use that slash Ben's that they know that we've sent you and also so that you get that $150 discount on the ring of security kit.

00:05:01.000 Okay, so lots to get to about in terms of the fallout from the from the Comey testimony last week.

00:05:09.000 And again, the Comey testimony sort of did two things.

00:05:11.000 Number one thing it did was it got rid of the Trump-Russia collusion narrative.

00:05:15.000 So if you recall, the Democratic narrative was Trump had worked with Russia to steal the election, and then after stealing the election, Trump had fired James Comey in order to prevent that from coming out.

00:05:25.000 That was left's theory.

00:05:26.000 And that has been completely blown away by the Comey testimony.

00:05:29.000 So that's the upside.

00:05:30.000 Even Democrats are now acknowledging openly there's no evidence of Trump-Russia collusion.

00:05:33.000 This story is falling apart.

00:05:34.000 Joe Manchin, a senator from West Virginia, he said as much on the Sunday shows.

00:05:38.000 Do you agree with this conclusion that the president has reached that there was no evidence of collusion?

00:05:44.000 You know, we haven't seen any of that whatsoever, George.

00:05:46.000 We've been looking and showing everything that they possibly have.

00:05:51.000 That has not led to that.

00:05:53.000 Okay, so again, I think that it just demonstrates that the left's narrative on this whole thing has fallen apart.

00:06:00.000 Beyond that, it's also obvious that there's a second aspect of this narrative that is now being drawn out by the left.

00:06:07.000 So the left is now pivoting.

00:06:09.000 It's like that episode of Friends where Ross is trying to get a couch up the stairs and he's just shouting, Pivot!

00:06:13.000 Pivot! 0.84

00:06:14.000 Well, that's where we are right now.

00:06:15.000 The Democrats are now pivoting off of the Trump-Russia stuff and now pivoting toward the Trump-Flynn stuff.

00:06:19.000 So, the most damning part of Comey's testimony and the part that was apparently codified in a memo was this part that says that Trump essentially brought Comey into a room by himself, told everybody else to leave, told Attorney General Sessions to leave, told DNI Coats to leave.

00:06:35.000 So let's everybody get out and then turn to Comey and said, I hope you can find your way clear to letting Flynn go.

00:06:40.000 And Comey says he took that as a directive.

00:06:42.000 Well, a couple of things.

00:06:43.000 Number one, obviously he didn't really take it as a directive because he didn't slow down his Flynn investigation.

00:06:47.000 But what the left would say is, okay, Trump meant it as a directive.

00:06:51.000 Comey may not have taken it seriously enough to act as a directive, but the fact that he was fired over it demonstrates that this is obstruction of justice and the fact that he

00:06:59.000 He said the same thing to Dan Coats, the Director of National Intelligence, and the same thing to the National Security Agency leader, Mike Rogers.

00:07:06.000 He said the same thing, that he wanted to let Flynn go.

00:07:08.000 He said it to all these people.

00:07:09.000 That means it's obstruction of justice.

00:07:10.000 So I think that it is worthwhile now for you to understand just what obstruction of justice is before we get to the left.

00:07:17.000 Kind of falsification of what obstruction of justice is.

00:07:20.000 Because the left is all over this thing.

00:07:23.000 The left is trying to claim now that Trump has committed some sort of crime.

00:07:25.000 I want to go through the actual law.

00:07:27.000 So, Professor Alan Dershowitz said last week that there is no obstruction of justice.

00:07:32.000 The president could have told Comey, you are commanded, directed to stop the prosecution against Flynn.

00:07:36.000 The president has the right to do that.

00:07:38.000 Comey acknowledges that.

00:07:39.000 He says in the statement that historically, historically presidents have done that to the Justice Department.

00:07:44.000 So there's a fair bit of legal debate over whether, whether Professor Dershowitz is correct about this.

00:07:49.000 But the general idea is the FBI director works for the president.

00:07:51.000 The president can fire whoever he wants.

00:07:52.000 Remember, Nixon was not actually prosecuted criminally for obstruction of justice.

00:07:57.000 He was impeached.

00:07:57.000 And it's important to keep this in your mind, okay?

00:07:59.000 Because when you talk about impeachment,

00:08:01.000 Trump does not have to have committed, technically, a crime in order to be impeached.

00:08:06.000 All that has to happen is the Congress thinks he's done something bad enough to impeach him.

00:08:11.000 You don't have to be convicted of a crime in order to be impeached.

00:08:13.000 The reason that's worth noting is, one, the left, when they claim that Trump did something illegal, they can be wrong and still try to impeach.

00:08:18.000 And two, just because Trump didn't do anything illegal doesn't mean that he was acting very smart or good with regard to FBI Director Comey.

00:08:26.000 Now, Trump obviously has the right to fire the FBI director,

00:08:28.000 Whether he has the right to intimidate the FBI director is another story.

00:08:33.000 So there are three statutes, but here's the problem.

00:08:35.000 There are three statutes that basically cover obstruction of justice federally.

00:08:38.000 There are three statutes.

00:08:39.000 None of them appear to apply in this case.

00:08:42.000 None of them appear to apply to President Trump, even if you took the most egregious Comey-like reading of what Trump was saying.

00:08:48.000 Even if Trump said that, it's not clear it's obstruction of justice.

00:08:57.000 So here are the three provisions of federal law.

00:08:59.000 One is 18 U.S.

00:09:00.000 Code 1503.

00:09:01.000 This is called the Omnibus Clause.

00:09:03.000 The Omnibus Clause with regards to obstruction of justice covers, quote,

00:09:06.000 So that sounds pretty bad, right?

00:09:08.000 Because if you assume there's an FBI investigation going on and he's trying to threaten, to influence, then that's obstruction.

00:09:13.000 But the clause legally requires a pending judicial proceeding.

00:09:28.000 So it's not enough for there to be an FBI investigation.

00:09:30.000 There actually has to be like a trial going on, and then you try to threaten a prosecutor, right?

00:09:34.000 That would be obstruction of justice.

00:09:36.000 But we don't know of any pending judicial proceeding against Mike Flynn.

00:09:40.000 We also don't know of any pending judicial proceeding with regard to the Trump-Russia stuff.

00:09:42.000 In fact, good shot that a lot of this was a counterintelligence investigation, not necessarily a criminal one.

00:09:48.000 Counterintelligence investigations are not pending judicial proceedings.

00:09:53.000 Furthermore, the Supreme Court is pretty exacting on the application of this law.

00:09:56.000 A prosecutor would need to show that Trump's conduct, quote, materially impeded the investigation.

00:10:02.000 And even Comey has said that really didn't happen, right?

00:10:04.000 Comey said that he didn't actually do anything to shut down the investigation.

00:10:07.000 Okay, so that's provision number one.

00:10:08.000 Provision number two is 18 U.S.C.

00:10:11.000 1512C.

00:10:11.000 And the reason I'm going through this is because I want people, left and right, to have a good picture of what the law is before they start spouting off nonsense.

00:10:19.000 15... 18 U.S.C., 1512 C. This provision of the law covers anyone who, quote, obstructs, influences, or impedes an official proceeding or attempts to do so.

00:10:28.000 It's not clear an FBI investigation is an official proceeding.

00:10:31.000 And in this case, you'd actually have to prove intent.

00:10:32.000 You'd have to prove that Trump actually wanted to shut this down.

00:10:35.000 And typically, that doesn't just mean saying things.

00:10:38.000 It means you have to take, quote, a substantial step toward the accomplishment of shutting it down.

00:10:42.000 And as Flynn has testified, he is not aware that there was really any

00:10:47.000 Hard evidence to attempt to shut down the Flynn investigation.

00:10:50.000 So it would be a long, a long punt to have to, to have to try and prove this.

00:10:55.000 Finally, there's 18 U.S.C.

00:10:56.000 1519.

00:10:57.000 This is the provision covering destroying evidence related to a federal investigation.

00:11:00.000 So this one would basically say that if you, this, this would deal like specifically with a federal investigation, like an FBI investigation.

00:11:06.000 If Trump had destroyed documents, that's one thing.

00:11:08.000 Him saying something to Comey is not the same thing.

00:11:11.000 So in other words,

00:11:13.000 Just from a fact-checking perspective, the idea that Trump committed obstruction of justice, very, very questionable.

00:11:18.000 Now, does that mean that Trump is pursuing a smart strategy in response to this stuff?

00:11:22.000 Does it mean that it's smart how Trump is responding to it?

00:11:25.000 Not particularly.

00:11:26.000 Trump's best strategy here would be to say, listen, I didn't mean to impede an investigation.

00:11:31.000 I was just spouting off.

00:11:32.000 I spout off all the time.

00:11:33.000 I said some stuff to Comey. 0.93

00:11:34.000 Big frickin' deal.

00:11:36.000 What you gonna do about it?

00:11:38.000 I mean, Obama did the same thing with the IRS.

00:11:40.000 Loretta Lynch did the same thing with Comey with regard to the Hillary investigation. 1.00

00:11:43.000 I don't see the left going nuts over this.

00:11:45.000 This would be his smartest strategy.

00:11:46.000 And as far as the Lynch stuff, even the left acknowledges now that the Loretta Lynch stuff is very damaging because Loretta Lynch basically did straight out what the left is accusing Trump of doing with regard to Comey.

00:11:58.000 So if you recall back to last week, James Comey testified that Loretta Lynch, who is Obama's Attorney General, told him she wanted the Hillary investigation referred to as a quote-unquote matter.

00:12:08.000 And he said that he felt nauseous, or queasy I think is the word he used, with regard to Loretta Lynch's involvement in the Hillary investigation.

00:12:15.000 Now, this goes to Comey's credibility.

00:12:17.000 It really does, because the fact is, Comey didn't say anything publicly.

00:12:20.000 Comey didn't call out Loretta Lynch.

00:12:22.000 He didn't actually stop her from getting what she wanted.

00:12:24.000 In fact, he started using the term madder, just like Loretta Lynch wanted him to, which suggests that Comey is a guy who really wants to keep his job.

00:12:31.000 I mean, he wanted to keep his job with Trump.

00:12:33.000 He wanted to keep his job with Obama.

00:12:35.000 Call me for all of his rectitudinal talk about how he is the spine of moral decency.

00:12:40.000 This is a guy who didn't say much when Loretta Lynch said, I want you to basically skew this thing.

00:12:45.000 Instead, what he did is he said, listen, I think Hillary's innocent, so I'm going to do Loretta Lynch's work for her so Loretta Lynch won't be accused of having skewed the investigation. 0.59

00:12:53.000 That's pretty crazy, right?

00:12:54.000 I mean, that's bad stuff with regards to James Comey.

00:12:56.000 The left realizes this is pretty damaging right now.

00:13:00.000 And so here is Dianne Feinstein, the Democratic senator from California, basically acknowledging that what happened to Loretta Lynch is pretty bad and has to be investigated.

00:13:08.000 Now, the reason that Dianne Feinstein is saying that, of course, is because she wants to be able to say, listen, Loretta Lynch should be investigated and so should the president.

00:13:17.000 That's smart by Dianne Feinstein.

00:13:18.000 They understand the Loretta Lynch story is a problem.

00:13:21.000 Here is Senator Feinstein from my state, California.

00:13:45.000 Okay, so again, this is smart by Dianne Feinstein. 1.00

00:13:48.000 What's stupid is Chuck Schumer. 0.98

00:13:49.000 He's giving the more honest Democrat response, which is, nah, you know, I think Loretta Lynch is fine. 1.00

00:13:54.000 Trump's super bad.

00:13:54.000 Trump's really bad, right?

00:13:56.000 And, you know, when he intimidated Comey, that was really bad.

00:13:58.000 But when Loretta Lynch did the same thing to Comey, now that was okay.

00:14:01.000 Here's Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader.

00:14:03.000 Look, I heard what Jim Comey said, and he said he was troubled by it.

00:14:07.000 I respect him a great deal, but I haven't heard Loretta Lynch's side of the story, so I'm not going to come to a conclusion as to who was right or wrong, or whether it rises to the level that she should come testify.

00:14:19.000 Okay, so he doesn't think she should come testify, but Trump should definitely come testify.

00:14:22.000 Again, this just demonstrates there's a ton of hypocrisy on both sides.

00:14:26.000 So people who are very disturbed by what Loretta Lynch did in the last election cycle, you should be disturbed that President Trump told James Comey that he hoped that the Flynn thing would be dropped.

00:14:35.000 You should be, okay?

00:14:36.000 That's not to say that Trump necessarily did anything tremendously wrong.

00:14:39.000 It's not to say that Trump did anything criminal.

00:14:41.000 Yeah, I think that he did something wrong, but not criminal.

00:14:43.000 I think you shouldn't call the FBI director into your office and then tell him you want an investigation handled a particular way.

00:14:48.000 That seems inappropriate to me.

00:14:50.000 But if you're disturbed by Lynch, you should be disturbed by Trump.

00:14:53.000 And if you're disturbed by Trump, you should be disturbed by Lynch.

00:14:55.000 People who are disturbed by neither are consistent.

00:14:57.000 People who are disturbed by both are consistent.

00:14:59.000 People who are disturbed by one or the other are wildly inconsistent, and I would suggest that you examine your partisan bias if you are disturbed by Lynch, but not by Trump, or if you are disturbed by Trump, but not by Lynch.

00:15:09.000 This holds true for both sides of the aisle.

00:15:12.000 With all that said, President Trump, you know, he has his own response to all of this.

00:15:16.000 I already laid out what I think his response should be, what the smart response would be, right?

00:15:20.000 Which would be, okay, you know, on the obstruction stuff, right?

00:15:23.000 Look, the Trump-Russia stuff is great.

00:15:24.000 He already can say that I've been vindicated on that, and he is saying that.

00:15:28.000 His real response on the obstruction stuff should be, I didn't legally break the law, and by the way, I didn't even do anything to intimidate Comey because he clearly wasn't intimidated.

00:15:37.000 I was just saying stuff because that's what I do.

00:15:39.000 I'm Donald Trump.

00:15:39.000 I say stuff.

00:15:40.000 I mean, for God's sake, why are you taking me so seriously?

00:15:43.000 That'd actually be his smart response.

00:15:44.000 I want to get to how he's actually responding and why it's not so great in just a second.

00:15:50.000 But first, I want to say thank you to our sponsors over at carshield.com.

00:15:54.000 Sooner or later you know that your car is going to break down.

00:15:56.000 You know this and it's going to cost you a crap load of money.

00:15:59.000 You hope that it happens while it's still under manufacturer's warranty and the repair is covered.

00:16:03.000 But if it happens after the warranty expires, then you could be out of pocket thousands and thousands of dollars and then you have to decide whether it's worth getting a new car.

00:16:09.000 I don't know.

00:16:29.000 There's no check in the mail or waiting for reimbursement.

00:16:32.000 CarShield pays the mechanic directly.

00:16:34.000 CarShield's administrators give you the VIP treatment, so if you have a problem, they give you 24-7 roadside assistance.

00:16:39.000 You don't have to have a separate roadside assistance service.

00:16:41.000 And they give you a rental car while yours is in the shop, so you're not left stranded in the cold.

00:16:46.000 If your car is 3 to 12 years old, that doesn't mean you need high repair bills.

00:16:50.000 CarShield administrators have paid out close to $2 billion in claims.

00:16:53.000 They are ready to help you right now.

00:16:55.000 So right now, go to carshield.com slash ben and you save 10% on your program.

00:17:00.000 Carshield.com slash ben to save 10%.

00:17:03.000 That's carshield.com slash ben to save 10%.

00:17:07.000 Save yourself thousands of dollars in potential repairs.

00:17:09.000 Plus, again, you get that roadside service and the rental car, the whole deal.

00:17:12.000 Carshield.com slash ben.

00:17:13.000 Use the slash ben so they know that we sent you and get that 10% off.

00:17:16.000 A deductible may apply.

00:17:18.000 Okay, so President Trump is now responding to the Comey testimony as President Trump typically does with

00:17:25.000 Just frontal assault.

00:17:27.000 I mean, it's just full abandon.

00:17:29.000 And this is where it would be really helpful if President Trump would listen to his lawyers for once.

00:17:33.000 For once. 1.00

00:17:34.000 But last Friday, in case you missed it, because it was late in the afternoon, President Trump gave a press conference, and at that press conference he said something deeply stupid. 0.97

00:17:41.000 He said he was willing to go under oath to say that James Comey had lied. 0.98

00:17:45.000 There are two problems with this.

00:17:46.000 One, James Comey's credibility is what Trump is betting on with regard to the Trump-Russia stuff. 0.97

00:17:52.000 It's hard to say, James Comey is a liar, liar, liar, liar, but he's totally right about this Trump-Russia stuff. 0.98

00:17:57.000 Very difficult to do that. 0.96

00:17:58.000 Instead, what Trump should have said is, everything he said is basically true, but he misconstrued everything because he insists on seeing me in the worst possible light, where he saw Loretta Lynch and Obama in the best possible light.

00:18:09.000 We now know that Comey did not write contemporaneous notes over the Loretta Lynch stuff.

00:18:13.000 He didn't write contemporaneous notes even when he came to a one-on-one meeting with President Bush back in the 2000s, according to Comey.

00:18:20.000 So what exactly is his issue with me?

00:18:23.000 Clearly he's just interpreting me in the worst possible light.

00:18:25.000 That's not my fault, that's Comey's fault.

00:18:27.000 That's what Trump should be saying.

00:18:28.000 So everything he says I said, I did say, but I didn't mean it the way he's saying it.

00:18:32.000 That's what Trump should be saying.

00:18:33.000 Instead, he goes out there and he calls Comey a liar because President Trump

00:18:38.000 He is incapable of backing down from a fight or even strategically edging around a fight for his own benefit.

00:18:44.000 So instead, he says he's willing to go under oath.

00:18:46.000 And all of his lawyers had to just be doing the full-on Jean-Luc Picard double-faced poem.

00:18:52.000 I mean, every lawyer, most of them doing the Tommen straight-out-the-window routine from Game of Thrones.

00:18:58.000 So here is President Trump saying this at a press conference on Friday.

00:19:02.000 Would you be willing to speak under oath to give your version of these events?

00:19:07.000 100%.

00:19:09.000 Okay, again, no, no, no, no, no, no!

00:19:13.000 No!

00:19:13.000 Okay, if you are a Trump defender, if you're somebody who likes Trump, this is not him playing 40 chess, this is him being aggressive and getting out over his skis.

00:19:20.000 Not smart.

00:19:21.000 Not smart.

00:19:22.000 And really not smart because, again, once you go under oath, you can be asked anything.

00:19:27.000 And then, is Trump the kind of guy who... I mean, he's casual with how he talks, even if you want to say he's not a liar.

00:19:32.000 He's casual with the truth, okay?

00:19:34.000 Casual with the truth is a very kind interpretation of things that President Trump has said in the past.

00:19:38.000 There's a guy who accused Rafael Cruz of killing JFK, okay?

00:19:41.000 Truth is not President Trump's strong suit.

00:19:45.000 Him going under oath is just a mistake for the ages, if you were to do it.

00:19:49.000 Which is why he's not actually going to do it.

00:19:50.000 He's just sort of saying it.

00:19:51.000 But the problem is, by him saying it, now the Senate Democrats are saying, well, fine.

00:19:55.000 Here's your invitation.

00:19:56.000 Come on down. 0.94

00:19:56.000 Come on. 0.94

00:19:57.000 And we're not going to take you seriously until you do go under oath.

00:19:59.000 That's a mistake.

00:20:00.000 Another mistake.

00:20:01.000 Trump is still hanging on to this tweet.

00:20:04.000 He tweeted out that he has tapes of James Comey with him.

00:20:07.000 What he really said was, James Comey better hope that there are no tapes.

00:20:10.000 First of all, don't try to intimidate James Comey by saying that you might have tapes.

00:20:14.000 James Comey knows this game better than you do, Mr. President.

00:20:17.000 And second of all, once you say you have tapes, now you actually are in obstruction of justice territory.

00:20:23.000 Remember, one of the three statutes that I cited

00:20:26.000 It was a statute that said you're not allowed to destroy evidence in the middle of a federal investigation.

00:20:30.000 So now, what happens if Trump comes out and he says there are no tapes?

00:20:34.000 Well, people are going to say, okay, we're going to subpoena the tapes.

00:20:36.000 And then what if he says there are no tapes?

00:20:38.000 People might claim there were tapes because you implied there were tapes and you refused to say there were not tapes.

00:20:43.000 They might say, well, there were tapes and you destroyed the tapes.

00:20:45.000 It's just not smart, not smart, not smart.

00:20:47.000 Here's Trump talking about the tapes again.

00:20:49.000 When, when, when will you tell us about the rover?

00:20:51.000 For a fairly short period of time.

00:20:55.000 Are there tapes, sir?

00:20:58.000 Oh, you're going to be very disappointed when you hear the answer.

00:21:00.000 Don't worry.

00:21:02.000 Okay, so if we're going to be very disappointed when we hear the... Why is everything a reality show reveal?

00:21:05.000 We'll hear the president.

00:21:06.000 Just say, no, there are no tapes.

00:21:08.000 I was tweeting that out because I think that Comey is not interpreting things correctly.

00:21:12.000 I mean, again, all of this is so easily explainable if he just had the brains to look at this in realistic fashion as opposed to, I just have to call everybody who's a liar, who's disagreeing with me. 0.85

00:21:22.000 It's just not smart. 0.97

00:21:24.000 And it's especially not smart when you have Donald Trump Jr.

00:21:26.000 then going on national TV

00:21:28.000 And saying openly, yeah, my dad told Comey to back off, but that's not what he meant, which is the proper defense.

00:21:33.000 But Trump has now forbid that defense by going out there and saying that Comey was lying.

00:21:38.000 You and I both know my father a long time.

00:21:40.000 When he tells you to do something, guess what?

00:21:43.000 There's no ambiguity in it.

00:21:44.000 There's no, hey, I'm hoping.

00:21:47.000 You and I are friends.

00:21:48.000 Hey, I hope this happens, but you've got to do your job.

00:21:50.000 That's what he told Comey.

00:21:52.000 And for this guy as a politician to then go back and write a memo, oh, he felt so threatened, but he didn't do anything.

00:21:59.000 Okay, this is the proper defense.

00:22:01.000 Everybody's on Donald Trump Jr.

00:22:02.000 for saying this.

00:22:03.000 This is the proper defense.

00:22:04.000 But Trump has already kind of foreclosed that defense by doing the whole Comey lied about the entire situation.

00:22:11.000 And then Trump goes out on Twitter and he says,

00:22:20.000 Okay, again, if we're going to talk about cowardly leaks, the president leaks all the time, we'll talk about the legality of Comey's leaks.

00:22:26.000 Forget about what you think of Comey.

00:22:27.000 Forget about what you think of Trump.

00:22:28.000 This is not smart strategy.

00:22:30.000 It's just not smart strategy.

00:22:32.000 And it's unnecessary, particularly because right now, Trump is starting to do some good things.

00:22:36.000 So last week, end of the week, President Trump

00:22:39.000 He suddenly nominated a bunch of conservative judges to fill a lot of appeals courts vacancies.

00:22:44.000 Good!

00:22:45.000 This is good.

00:22:46.000 He should be leading with that.

00:22:47.000 That's what he should be talking about.

00:22:48.000 You know, even in that tweet storm where he goes after Comey, he's talking about the good in the economy and then he goes after Comey.

00:22:54.000 How about just talk about what you want to talk about?

00:22:56.000 You know, one of the keys to politics, this is like politics 101, is you always answer the question you want to answer in the way you want to answer it.

00:23:02.000 You don't always have to answer directly the question that's being thrown in front of you.

00:23:05.000 But it's just, it's a mistake

00:23:08.000 Okay, so I want to talk about Comey's credibility, whether Comey might be in danger of prosecution as well.

00:23:19.000 Plus, should Bob Mueller, who's the special counsel, recuse himself on the Trump material?

00:23:24.000 We'll talk about all of that.

00:23:25.000 But first, you have to go over to dailywire.com right now and become a subscriber.

00:23:29.000 So for $8 a month, you get a subscription to dailywire.com.

00:23:32.000 You can see the rest of the podcast live.

00:23:34.000 Plus, you can be part of the mailbag.

00:23:35.000 This week, actually, I think what we're going to do is, my dad and I have come out with this book on the White Sox, and I think we're going to do the mailbag.

00:23:42.000 My dad is, I think I'm going to bring him in studio.

00:23:44.000 So, you can meet my dad, and if you have questions for my dad in the mailbag, then you can actually ask my father questions in the mailbag this week.

00:23:51.000 So go over to dailywire.com, become a subscriber.

00:23:53.000 You can ask my dad anything, which frightens me, but you can ask my father any question you want.

00:23:57.000 We'll be having him in studio, assuming we're in our new studios by then.

00:24:00.000 So go over to dailywire.com right now, check it out, $8 a month.

00:24:03.000 Plus, if you get an annual subscription, then you get a free signed copy of the aforementioned book.

00:24:07.000 You get a free signed copy of this book, Say It's So, by me and my father.

00:24:11.000 All about the 2005 Chicago White Sox season, but mostly it's just about baseball and father-son relationships, and it's about three generations of White Sox fans waiting to see them win a World Series.

00:24:20.000 So it's a great Father's Day gift, and you get a free signed copy when you go to dailywire.com right now and subscribe.

00:24:26.000 Great Father's Day gift, so go over there and check it out.

00:24:29.000 Or if you just want to listen later, go over to iTunes or SoundCloud and leave a review at iTunes.

00:24:33.000 We always appreciate it.

00:24:34.000 We are the number one conservative podcast in the nation.

The Ben Shapiro Show - June 12, 2017

Ep. 317 - Is Trump On The Ropes...Or On Offense?

Episode Stats

Summary

Transcript