The mayor of Phoenix wants Trump to stay away from the city and push back his rally following the violent clashes in Charlottesville.
Trump announced his event a day after he blamed ‘both sides’ for weekend violence between white supremacists and counter-demonstrators in Virginia.
The president tweeted about the rally planned for August 22, with a link for ticket availability on Wednesday night.
Mayor Greg Stanton said he was ‘disappointed’ in the decision and he hoped ‘sound judgement would prevail’ in Trump pushing back his visit, he said later that night.
The politician added in his statement: ‘If President Trump is coming to Phoenix to announce a pardon for former Sheriff Joe Arpaio, then it will be clear that his true intent is to enflame emotions and further divide our nation.’
Phoenix mayor Greg Stanton (left) said he was ‘disappointed’ that Trump was hosting a rally in the city after the violent clashes in Charlottesville, the Arizona politician said Wednesday. Trump had announced that day he was attending a rally for his campaign on August 22
Trump announced his event a day after he blamed ‘both sides’ for weekend violence between white supremacists and counter-demonstrators in Virginia (pictured)
The rally is scheduled to take place at the Phoenix Convention Center, the campaign said.
Stanton said in his statement: ‘I am disappointed that President Trump has chosen to hold a campaign rally as our nation is still healing from the tragic events in Charlottesville.
‘It is my hope that more sound judgment prevails and that he delays his visit.’
The president has been holding campaign-style events in Trump-friendly areas since he took office. Next week’s rally will be his first in the West.
Trump told Fox News in an interview this week that he may pardon former metro Phoenix Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who recently was convicted in federal court for disobeying a judge’s order to stop his traffic patrols that targeted immigrants.
A federal judge ruled in 2013 that Arpaio’s officers had racially profiled Latinos.
The Arizona politician added in his statement (pictured): ‘If President Trump is coming to Phoenix to announce a pardon for former Sheriff Joe Arpaio, then it will be clear that his true intent is to enflame emotions and further divide our nation’
The president tweeted about the rally planned for August 22, with a link for ticket availability on Wednesday night (pictured)
Arpaio, 85, is scheduled to be sentenced October 5 and faces up to six months in jail. Attorneys who have followed the case doubt someone his age would be incarcerated, however.
Critics say a pardon would amount to an endorsement of racism.
U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Arizona, has announced he’ll be leading a counter protest outside the Phoenix Convention Center during Trump’s rally, the Arizona Daily Star reported Wednesday.
In a six-minute video posted on YouTube, the newspaper said Grijalva called Trump unhinged and the congressman from Tucson labeled the president as a supporter of racists.
Thousands gathered with candles to march along the path that white supremacists took the prior Friday with torches on the University of Virginia Campus in Charlottesville
Trump last held a rally at the Phoenix Convention Center last August ahead of the presidential election and detailed his plan to combat illegal immigration.
He lambasted millions of immigrants as violent criminals and a drain on the U.S. government.
Trump vowed at that time that no person living in the United States illegally would have a path to legal status without first leaving the country.