President Donald Trump will not pardon controversial Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio – at least for the next day – after saying he was ‘seriously considering’ the idea.
The president himself had floated the idea in a Fox News interview, even as Arpaio awaited an October sentencing court date for defying a 2011 court order.
With the president set to speak tonight at a rally in Phoenix, an Arpaio pardon was at the top of a list of possible developments.
‘There will be no discussion of that today at any point, and no action will be taken on that front at any point today,’ White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters traveling on Air Force One.
Former Maricopa County, Arizona, Sheriff Joe Arpaio (left) could receive President Trump’s (right) first presidential pardon, the POTUS told Fox News on Sunday
Trump regularly hailed his support from ‘Sheriff Joe’ on the campaign trail, despite his reputation as a controversial and polarizing figure. Arpaio got booted out of office in November, with Trump at the top of the ticket.
With the pardon story out of the way, Trump is free to focus on other things – including a visit with border agents, his first rally since his controversial Charlottesville comments and Afghanistan speech, and his feud with Arizona GOP senator Jeff Flake.
Arpaio on Monday did not reveal any knowledge of inside information.
‘Do you think he’ll do it tomorrow night? Who knows,’ Arpaio told NBC News. ‘I don’t know.’
He compared his own situation to that of Trump’s having to contend with a special counsel investigation.
‘I feel sad about what they’re trying to do to him,” Arpaio said. ‘It’s what they tried to do to me. The media — and the politicians.’
Trump said he had been mulling his first presidential pardon for the controversial crusader against illegal immigration – a top priority of Trump’s
Joe Arpaio (left), who served as sheriff to the greater Phoenix area for more than two decades, supported President Trump (right) during the Republican primary, and they both claimed President Obama was born outside the United States
‘I am seriously considering a pardon for Sheriff Arpaio,’ Trump told Fox News on Sunday at the president’s club in Bedminster, New Jersey. ‘He has done a lot in the fight against illegal immigration. He’s a great American patriot and I hate to see what has happened to him,’ the president added.
In late July, the former Maricopa County, Arizona, sheriff was found guilty of criminal contempt for violating a 2011 court order in a racial profiling case, brought to the courts by a group of Latinos, by continuing patrols that targeted immigrants.
Judge Susan Bolton wrote in her decision that Arpaio knew of the court order, but showed a ‘flagrant disregard’ for it, according to CNN.
‘Not only did defendant abdicate responsibility, he announced to the world and to his subordinates that he was going to continue business as usual no matter who said otherwise,’ Bolton wrote.
Arpaio’s defense attorney blamed his previous counsel saying the lawyer ‘dropped the ball’ by not explaining the order clearly to the sheriff, nor reaching out to the judge who ordered it for further explanation.
Federal prosecutors countered that Arpaio defied the order purposely, believing he could get away with it.
Arpaio will be sentenced on October 5 and could face up to six months in jail, unless Trump intervenes.
Trump told Fox that the pardon, if he decides to go through with it, could come over the next few days.
‘I might do it right away, maybe early this week,’ Trump said. ‘I am seriously thinking about it.’
Arpaio appeared alongside Trump on the campaign trail last year, as they both moved to eradicate illegal immigration.
They also both prescribed to the ‘birther’ conspiracy theory, which suggested President Obama was born outside the United States.
Obama was born in Hawaii.
‘Is there anyone in local law enforcement who has done more to crack down on illegal immigration than Sheriff Joe?’ Trump mused to Fox News on Sunday, as other journalists covering the president were kept away.
The president was taking heat for not directly calling out the white supremacists who wreaked havoc on Charlottesville, Virginia, over the weekend, leaving one counter-protester dead.
On Sunday, the president stayed off Twitter and his pool of reporters was kept away.
Finally on Monday afternoon, Trump condemned the various hate groups who marched in the Virginia town.
‘Racism is evil,’ Trump said. ‘And those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs, including the KKK, neo-Nazis, white supremacists and other hate groups that are repugnant to everything we hold dear as Americans.’
Trump critic Walter Shaub, the ex-director of the Office of Government Ethics, connected Trump’s announcement of a potential Arpaio pardon with his sluggish response to condemn the white supremacists, according to the Hill.
‘Scrambling to reassure the white supremacists and nazis that he didn’t really mean what he said to the ‘normies’ today…’ Shaub tweeted, linking to Politico’s story about the Arpaio pardon being in the works.
Arpaio was on the job for more than two decades, in the top law enforcement job in the county that includes Phoenix, Arizona.
He was known for constructing a tent city to house convicts, forcing them to wear underwear and bringing back chain gangs.
‘He has protected people from crimes and saved lives,’ Trump told Fox News of the former lawman.
While Trump was taking the White House, Arpaio lost his race last November to serve a seventh term.
Speaking to Fox about a potential pardon, Arpaio said he would welcome it.
‘I am happy he understands the case,’ the former sheriff said. ‘I would accept the pardon because I am 100 percent not guilty.’