Right-wing pundit Ben Shapiro minimized the scandal surrounding former Republican President Donald Trump's mishandling of classified information on The Daily Wire's political podcast, The Ben Shapiro Show.
Shapiro maintained there was nothing "nefarious" behind Trump's absconding with government documents to his Florida estate of Mar-a-Lago after leaving the White House.
He also asserted that Trump should not be prosecuted as part of the FBI's ongoing criminal investigation looking for Trump possibly violating the Espionage Act and for obstruction of justice.
While his comments excusing Trump for stealing the documents were not surprising, what made social media users squirm was listening to Shapiro's impression of Trump.
You can watch the segment here, with the Trump impersonation beginning at the 0:18 mark.
\u201cBen Shapiro says Trump mishandled classified documents \u201cnot for any nefarious purpose, but because Trump likes things and so he takes them\u201d\nhttps://t.co/uK3zNCbJvg\u201d— Jason S. Campbell (@Jason S. Campbell) 1686240505
Shapiro asked viewers:
"Is there any evidence that Donald Trump meant to take these documents home to Mar-a-Lago and then hand them off to Vladimir Putin under cover of darkness?"
You remember, those were all the rumors at the time. The rumors at the time when this broke was that he was selling off our nuclear codes to the Chinese or some such nonsense."
"And it turns out those were all crap. The theory that I had from the beginning was correct."
This is when things went bonkers.
Shapiro imagined a scenario supporting his theory that Trump was casually innocent when discovering the documents and mimicked his voice.
"That, basically, Trump was like, 'I like that document. It's nice. It's signed by Kim Jong Un.'"
"'He and I are friends. Take it home. They call him Kim Jong Un.'"
He resumed in his regular speaking voice to defend Trump, saying:
"That was the actual reason he had the documents. Not for any nefarious purpose, but because Trump likes things and so he takes them."
Twitter users were...not impressed in the least.
\u201c@JasonSCampbell Ben Shapiro is a far right propagandist posing as a serious intellectual.\n\nThis pathetic defense of Trump is laughable at best.\u201d— Jason S. Campbell (@Jason S. Campbell) 1686240505
\u201c@JasonSCampbell The response of every shoplifter...ever.\u201d— Jason S. Campbell (@Jason S. Campbell) 1686240505
\u201c@JasonSCampbell @HandibodeJ So does this mean I can go to Nordstroms and just take whatever I like? I found a great bag there the other day\u2026\u201d— Jason S. Campbell (@Jason S. Campbell) 1686240505
\u201c@JasonSCampbell Yeah, so DJT takes things because he likes them makes everything ok? I think that\u2019s defined as stealing. So that make the Donald a thief, which actually is a crime!\u201d— Jason S. Campbell (@Jason S. Campbell) 1686240505
\u201c@JasonSCampbell he didn't mean to take them, he just keeps saying "I took them, I meant to take them, they're mine, there's nothing you can do about it, I have executive authority, of course I meant to take them"\u201d— Jason S. Campbell (@Jason S. Campbell) 1686240505
\u201c@JasonSCampbell @mmfa "I robbed that bank not for any nefarious purpose but because I like money...so I take money."\u201d— Jason S. Campbell (@Jason S. Campbell) 1686240505
Shapiro went on to denigrate former Democratic President Bill Clinton, suggesting he was guilty of a larger offense.
"By the way, that's not even unique to Trump. Bill Clinton really liked a lot of the stuff at the White House, and he just took it with him when he left in 2000."
"You remember this? He, like, took the cutlery in 2000 because Bill Clinton is trailer trash."
"But it is an amazing thing that they are now talking about prosecuting Trump over mishandling of classified documents."
\u201c@JasonSCampbell Hey, ya'all, remember Bill Clinton, from 30 years ago when he was relevant?\n\nHow old is his audience base that such a reference is considered recent enough to justify pulling?\u201d— Jason S. Campbell (@Jason S. Campbell) 1686240505
As an attempt to excuse Trump from scrutiny, Shapiro described him as the type of individual who was "constantly skating on the edge," adding:
"But skating on the edge does not mean that you should be prosecuted if similarly situated people are not prosecuted."
\u201c@JasonSCampbell So, by your own logic, Ben, he\u2019s still. . . \n\n* checks notes*\n\na thief.\u201d— Jason S. Campbell (@Jason S. Campbell) 1686240505
\u201c@JasonSCampbell \u201cThe thief was not nefarious in stealing the diamonds from the jewelry store. The thief is merely a collector who likes diamonds and wants to have them in his possession. Nor did he have bad motives when he sold the diamonds on the black market.\u201d\u201d— Jason S. Campbell (@Jason S. Campbell) 1686240505
Of the documents contained in 15 boxes retrieved by the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration from Mar-a-Lago, federal agents and archivists found classification markings on 184 unique documents–including 25 that were labeled "top secret", 92 "secret" and 67 "confidential."
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