The media has embraced a clear double standard in their fervor to oust President Trump and would have leaked the name of the Ukraine whistleblower if the commander in chief were a Democrat, said Ben Shapiro Wednesday.

"If the situation were reversed and this were a Republican whistleblower in a Democratic administration, this would have been plastered all over the front pages of every newspaper immediately, if it turned out that the person was a partisan hack on behalf of the Republicans," he said.

"The media are so invested in Trump being pushed out of office. They are so invested in hatred of Trump. It's pretty astonishing."

SEN. JOHNSON: 'ALL WHISTLEBLOWERS ARE NOT CREATED EQUAL'

Shapiro also discussed Sen. Rand Paul's, R-Ky., proposal to out the whistleblower's name to the public and said there is no law preventing him from doing do.

"I'm of the opinion that the whistleblower is basically irrelevant once the claims of his complaint are made public. But, is it fair for Republicans to point out Democratic hypocrisy right here? Yeah, that's totally fair," he said earlier in the segment. "And as far as the idea that it is a violation of law to release the name of the whistleblower -- no it isn't."

"Whistleblower laws are designed to prevent the firing of a whistleblower," Shapiro added. "[They're] usually designed to prevent their firing in the private sector."

More from Media

He also commented on The Washington Post's illustrated version on the Mueller investigation and mocked the paper, calling their behavior, "absurd."

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

"The Washington Post came out with a full, illustrated Mueller report. It's embarrassing," Shapiro said. "Democracy dies in crappy cartoons. They drew all of these pictures like Paul Manafort and James Comey with thought bubbles. It's absurd.

"They're publishing a graphic, non-fiction book, centered on special counsel Robert's Mueller's... inquiry," Shapiro continued. "I suppose they couldn't do it on the Kenneth Starr report, because then it just would have been pornography."

Late Wednesday, it emerged that Mark Zaid, one of the attorneys representing the whistleblower at the center of the impeachment inquiry, tweeted conspicuously in January 2017 that a "coup has started" and that "impeachment will follow ultimately."