Bill Maher Confronts Lara Trump on Pardoning President’s Cronies and Siccing the DOJ on Enemies

Bill Maher pressed Lara Trump on her father-in-law’s pardons for his pals and the weaponization of the DOJ in a tense interview moment.

In the latest episode of his Club Random podcast that dropped Monday, Maher grilled Lara Trump, Eric Trump’s wife, on many separate topics — including controversial pardons and the president’s use of the word “piggy” to describe a reporter.

At one point, Maher asked Trump about her father-in-law’s move to pardon former Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, who was revealed in a 60 Minutes report to have “enriched” the Trump family by helping with its push into crypto.

“This, more than any I’ve ever seen — and I’ve been covering this quite a long time — it looks like you get one treatment if you’re a friend of the president and one treatment if you don’t,” Maher said.

The host then segued into the Trump administration’s recent moves to pursue mortgage fraud cases against Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) New York Attorney General Letitia James (D).

“I can promise you this,” Trump replied. “Our family has been scrutinized, attacked, under a microscope. I would probably argue more than any family.”

Read the exchange here:

BILL MAHER: You mean, 60 Minutes did it last week, about a pardon that was given to the … Binance … is that the guy? The Chinese gentleman? You must have seen this story.

LARA TRUMP: Oh, yeah. Yeah.

MAHER: OK, It does look, excuse me, like this administration more than any. I mean, none of them are perfect-

TRUMP: More than any?

MAHER: Wait, wait. I haven’t I haven’t said of what yet. More than any in this regard. Not that other administrations don’t have their soft spot for people who are loyal to them. They are. This, more than any I’ve ever seen, and I’ve been covering this quite a long time, it looks like you get one treatment if you’re a friend of the president and one treatment if you don’t. I mean, to go after someone for checking the wrong box on the mortgage application? I’m sure that there are people who are Republicans, good Republicans, who have, if you went through their mortgage applications for the last 40 years, you would find a lot of them who checked the wrong box, the one that said, “Oh, you know what? I have two houses and I listed them both as a primary residence, which like everybody does.” Uh, but they don’t go after those people. You see what I’m saying?

TRUMP: Um, who are you referring to in this one?

MAHER: Well, he’s going after two people now. He just, we just found out this week. Um, and I don’t even like this guy, Congressman Eric Swalwell. Had him on the show. I thought, “Wow, this guy is just way too hungry.” Thirsty. I think the kids would call it.

TRUMP” The kids do say thirsty.

MAHER: He’s thirsty and just too, I mean, too left for me, you know, like California. And so like did I cry crocodile tears? No. But like he and Letitia James, I think, in New York, I mean, we’re talking about checking the wrong box on a, If you’re going to do that, let’s go through everybody’s mortgage loan, because I think you’ll find some people on your side who might have done that.

TRUMP: I can promise you this. Our family has been scrutinized, attacked, under a microscope. I would probably argue more than any family.

MAHER: Well, of course, because your father-in-law’s the president.

TRUMP: It’s not just that he’s the president, it’s that he’s Donald Trump as the president. I mean they they’ve gone after all of us in such in an aggressive way. You know

MAHER: They didn’t go after Obama and Clinton in an aggressive way if-

TRUMP: Not like this Bill.

MAHER: Oh, please.

TRUMP: When did you see Obama and Clinton’s residences, personal private property raided by the FBI? When did they have indictments against them to put them in jail for the rest of their life? Everybody can agree were a little outrageous, Bill. Like really?

MAHER: I agree on the uh… don’t junk go into somebody’s bathroom, but also you shouldn’t probably keeping files in your bathroom, but yes, that was over the top.

TRUMP: It was a little over the top.

MAHER: Over the top. But if you’re asking why they didn’t go after Obama and Clinton for certain things because Clinton and Obama never got on the phone and said, “I need you to find me 11,000 votes.” That is as close to a smoking gun as I can imagine, or something that I would say, “Wait a second. I do agree should be giving presidents broad latitude.” We don’t want to become one of those South American countries where we’re just always putting the last guy in jail, I agree. But that one, come on. You just can’t do that.

Watch above via YouTube.