Ben Shapiro claims it would be difficult to prosecute Trump because he's not capable of intent
Shapiro: “I'm not sure that Donald Trump has intent to eat a ham sandwich. I just – he's not a person who has a plan.”
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From the June 29, 2022, edition of The Daily Wire's The Ben Shapiro Show
BEN SHAPIRO (HOST): Now, the biggest problem that any prosecution -- and this is what Merrick Garland is facing down -- the biggest problem for any prosecution of Trump is that virtually all the crimes that they are talking about are crimes that require intent as an element of the crime. They're not negligence crimes. It's not Trump sat there, and he didn't really know what was going to happen, and he was careless and reckless about it and, therefore, it happened. Because that – again, recklessness is a lower standard and criminal negligence is a lower standard.
If you want to prove intent – and that is what this committee said they were doing. They said from the outset that there was a 7 step plan, like a concerted plan, of intent to get us from November 4 to January 6 and that that plan was put in place, step-by-step methodically. They've not proved that there was a plan, right? It seems more like Donald Trump thrashing against a glass box, is more what it seems like, frankly. But that was always true.
Now, a few years ago I said that I wasn't sure -- we were talking about Trump and Ukraine and the impeachment effort. And I said there, too, this is a crime of intent. I'm not sure that Donald Trump has intent to eat a ham sandwich. I just – he's not a person who has a plan. And a lot of folks on the left were like, oh, you're excusing him -- and it's like, since when is a person not having the capacity to make long-term plans some sort of defense of the person qua person? It's a defense against a criminal liability charge. Doesn't mean it's a defense of the person qua person.
Ok, but the point is that this is always going to be a difficulty with Trump. Because Trump is so – he's so instinctive in the way that he responds to things that it's very difficult to ever to say that he had intent to do this particular thing that required a concerted plan. That's just not the way that he operates. And I think everyone who watches him knows this.