Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) called out The Daily Wire founder Ben Shapiro on Wednesday for claiming he had no knowledge of the controversial right-wing wishlist Project 2025 during a House judiciary hearing on media collusion.
Swalwell pressed the conservative host about the blueprint, which is a set of proposals from the ultra-conservative Heritage Foundation to reshape the federal government and consolidate executive power if Donald Trump is elected in November. Trump, for his part, has denied any link to Project 2025 despite several of his former aides working on it.
“I think it is important that you’re here as one of the leading conservative voices in the country,” Swalwell told Shapiro. “And the country has, in the last couple of weeks, talked a lot about and Googled Project 2025. It’s one of the most Googled search terms right now.”
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Shapiro took his lead from Trump, claiming not to know the details of the 900-page plan.
“I think, like President Trump, I haven’t looked all that deeply at Project 2025, but it seems that Democrats on this committee, sort of like Peter Pan and Tinker Bell, if they say Project 2025 enough, their presidential candidate becomes alive again,” he quipped.
Swalwell then broke down the specific policy proposals of the conservative proposal.
“How about banning the abortion pill? That’s part of Project 2025. Do you support that part?” he asked.
“I’m a fully pro-life person, which means that I’m not in favor of the distribution of the abortion pill,” Shapiro said.
Shapiro said he agreed with the Project 2025 plan to ban same-sex marriage.
“You think it’s a sin to have same-sex marriage?” Swalwell asked. “I’m just asking, is it a sin to be gay?”
“From a religious Jewish perspective, orientation is not a sin, but activity is,” Shapiro replied.
“And just because we found some receipts, you did say, I think homosexual activity is a sin,” Swalwell said.
“Yes, I’m a religious Jew,” Shapiro said. “You found me out.”
“And you said, I may have a desire to sleep with many women, but I do not,” Swalwell added.
“I agree with me,” Shapiro said.
“I’m sure it’s very hard to restrain yourself,” Swalwell quipped.
