Bill Maher isn’t convinced that President Donald Trump is doing everything by the books.
The “Real Time” host had a lively conversation during Friday’s episode with guest Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) — and roasted him — after the conservative lawmaker argued that Trump “was very clear about what he was going to do” after being reelected.
Trump issued a blanket pardon last month for people who participated in the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol attack, and his wealthy confidante Elon Musk has been attempting to dismantle federal agencies to purportedly root out corruption.
Maher listened intently as Donalds argued Trump “didn’t hide the ball” on his supposed aim to expose federal malfeasance, but pushed back to remind viewers that the billionaire president is using highly unorthodox means to purportedly to do so.
“He’s doing it extralegally, wouldn’t you agree?” Maher told Donalds, adding: “And when I say extra, I don’t mean like, ‘Hey, it’s extra!’ Am I wrong about that? That it’s not — we’re sort of skipping over the three branches of government part?”
Musk spent more than a quarter billion dollars to help return Trump to the White House. He has since become a “special government employee” and used his influence to take control over the Treasury Department’s payment systems.
“The Biden administration operated literally in the shadows,” Donalds argued Friday. “They would not tell you anything that was going on. At least Donald Trump puts it out in the litany of orders that come out that day: ‘Here’s what we’re doing today.’”
Donalds argued Friday that people “knew nothing that was going on” during former President Joe Biden’s administration, which “operated literally in the shadows.”
“At least Donald Trump puts it out in the litany of orders that come out that day: ‘Here’s what we’re doing today,’” he said.
Maher pushed back with a joke: “We’re criminals, but we’re announcing it!” he said.
Tara Palmeri, a senior political correspondent at Puck News, chimed in to agree with Maher — and said Trump is “definitely testing the limits of the executive branch” and “stripping the power of oversight” from institutions that have been tasked with patriotic vigilance.
“He is trying to see as much as he can get away with,” she argued Friday. “And really the only thing stopping him right now are the courts. But I think he sees his DOJ and his FBI, his attorney general, as his executioners, and he is going to tell them what to do.”
Trump, in addition to pardoning people involved in the Jan. 6 insurrection, has pushed out several FBI officials along with heads of FBI field offices, for their efforts to provide the American people with a list of those tied to the criminal cases concerning the Capitol riot.
“The problem is that, yes, on both sides, there’s always some part that just defies the other,” Maher said Friday. “When Joe Biden pardoned his son — it was not a good look. I think it was [pundit] Sam Harris who said, ‘There’s no moral high ground left to stand on.’”
Go Ad-Free — And Protect The Free Press
Already contributed? Log in to hide these messages.
“But there is a difference,” he continued.
