President Donald Trump is "seriously considering" pardoning Joe Arpaio, a former Arizona sheriff found guilty last month of criminal contempt for violating the terms of a 2011 court order in a racial profiling case, Fox News reported on Monday.
“I am seriously considering a pardon for Sheriff Arpaio,” Trump told Fox News on Sunday at his country club in Bedminster, New Jersey.
The White House had no official announcement concerning Arpaio for now, a spokeswoman said on Monday.
Arpaio had styled himself as "America's toughest sheriff" for his no-nonsense treatment of jail inmates and a crackdown on illegal immigrants.
Arpaio was convicted on July 31 of misdemeanor contempt by a U.S. district judge in Phoenix for willfully disregarding an Arizona judge’s order to stop anti-immigrant traffic patrols. Arpaio continued the patrols for another 17 months.
The 85-year-old lawman, who lost his bid for re-election as Maricopa County sheriff last November after 24 years in office, faces a maximum penalty of six months in jail and a fine when he is sentenced on Oct. 5.
Trump told Fox News the pardon could happen in the next few days.
“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,” Fox News quoted the president as saying.