Columnist and author Ben Shapiro.

Best selling author and nationally syndicated columnist Ben Shapiro told HBO’s Bill Maher that if Special Counsel Robert Mueller issues criminal indictments and “they target” President Donald Trump, then he would be “happy” to see the president impeached but added, “I need to see the evidence.”

Shapiro, host of the highly popular podcast The Ben Shapiro Show, was a guest on Real Time with Bill Maher on June 29. During the show, Maher asked Shapiro whether he believes Trump colluded with Russian President Vladimir Putin to win the 2016 presidential election.

“I do not because I watched that campaign,” said Shapiro. “I don’t think that Donald Trump could collude with his own left foot.”

Maher then explained that he believes Trump’s son and the people subject to Mueller’s indictments are responsible for collusion. (According to legal experts as reported in Politico, "collusion itself is not a specific federal crime -- what matters is what kind of cooperation might have taken place and in what way. As to whether collusion did occur or a crime was committed, they said the jury is still out.")

Shapiro responded, “[W]hen the evidence comes out I’m happy to go for the indictments, I’m fine with the indictments. Criminal activity is criminal activity, that’s fine. But I’m not going to attribute to Trump something that he didn’t do when he’s too ignorant to have done it.”

Bill Maher, host of HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher. (Screenshot: HBO.com)

“He’s not too ignorant to be a criminal, Ben,” said the liberal Maher. “He’s been a criminal his whole life.”

When pressed for why he “wants to be on ‘team treason,’” Shapiro clarified his stance on the Mueller investigation, saying, “Dude, I’m happy to wait for the Mueller indictments, and if they come down and they target Trump, I’m happy to see him impeached. But I need to see evidence. Where’s the evidence?”

Maher expressed his concerns about what he believes to be the attempts of the “Republican Congress” to impeach Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein in order to protect the president from the Mueller investigation.

“Mueller is the one who matters here -- not Rosenstein, not Sessions, Mueller,” Shapiro said. Maher responded that if Rosenstein is replaced by a Trump nominee, the president could then destroy the findings of Mueller’s investigation.

“But Mueller’s report goes to the deputy attorney general, and if Trump puts Scott Baio in that position, he can just throw it in the trash,” said Maher. Shapiro answered that “if he throws it in the trash, or quashes the Mueller investigation, then yes, impeachment should be on the table.”

Shapiro and Maher’s comments come after last week’s House Judiciary Committee questioned Rod Rosenstein and FBI Director Christopher Wray’s about the Justice Department’s Inspector General report on political bias and corruption at the FBI.