Daily Wire Editor Emeritus and conservative political commentator Ben Shapiro announced Friday that he and his company have prepared for a legal battle to “defy” President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate.
“We’re going to use every method and resource at our disposal to defy the president’s unconstitutional order. And this is coming from somebody that’s very pro-vaccine. I was vaccinated as soon as possible, I’ve encouraged everybody to get the vaccine or pretty much everybody to get the vaccine,” Shapiro told Fox News.
“And the notion that the federal government has the ability to force every business in America with over 100 employees to either force their employees to vaccinate or force them to test every week or fire them, presumably, he came into office saying ‘I’m not going to shut down the economy, I’m not going to shut down the country, I’m going to shut down the virus.'”
Under the president’s authorized Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), private businesses that violate the mandate will be fined $14,000 per violation. The Daily Wire, which has over one hundred employees, could be subject to OSHA’s rule.
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Shapiro said the company is preparing any legal action necessary in order to defend itself against the administration’s mandate. The editor-in-chief said The Daily Wire and their attorneys know the details and regulations of the potential lawsuits.
“The provisions that Joe Biden is going to be citing under OSHA are wildly over brought and frankly I think that he’s made a huge tactical legal blunder here,” Shapiro continued. “I think there’s every possibility that something like this goes to the Supreme Court level and we see a complete rewriting of the administrative state because Joe Biden couldn’t get his act in order and so he decided to issue a tyrannical and authoritarian order here.”
Jeremy Boreing, CEO of The Daily Wire, said the outlet will “use every tool at our disposal including legal action to resist” the mandate Thursday via Twitter. (RELATED: ‘He Lied’: RNC Will Sue Biden Over Vaccine Mandate)
“No, The Daily Wire does have more than one hundred employees, but we won’t be enforcing Joe Biden’s unconstitutional and tyrannical mandate,” Boreing said.
Shapiro recently criticized Biden via Twitter Thursday, comparing his stance on vaccination to his handling of the Afghan withdrawal to which the president received major backlash. “Somebody should tell Biden that the Taliban are unvaccinated. Maybe then he’ll get angry at them,” Shapiro said.
Somebody should tell Biden that the Taliban are unvaccinated. Maybe then he’ll get angry at them.
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) September 10, 2021
“We’re not even a year into this presidency and this is a failed president on every level and so he’s attempting to redirect all of the ire at his presidency at your fellow Americans. You’re supposed to be angry at your neighbor for being unvaccinated even though Joe Biden himself yesterday said that your unvaccinated neighbor effectively poses no threat to you.”
In his Thursday speech, the president emphasized the low threat COVID-19 poses to a fully vaccinated individual. “I want to emphasize that the vaccines provide very strong protection from severe illness from COVID-19. I know there’s a lot of confusion and misinformation. But the world’s leading scientists confirm that if you are fully vaccinated, your risk of severe illness from COVID-19 is very low,” Biden said.
A recent poll revealed that nearly three-quarters of unvaccinated individuals would rather quit their job than receive a shot.