Sheriff Joe Arpaio is both participating in and providing security at a rally Saturday in his home state of Arizona for Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump, saying he relishes the prospect of "taking care of business there."
In an interview with
Politico, the man who calls himself "America's toughest sheriff" says he's not worried about any protests at the event in Fountain Hills, Ariz., 40 minutes outside of Phoenix.
"I’ve had demonstrations against me constantly," the six-term sheriff tells Politico. "He hasn’t had that many demonstrators, compared to me."
"I’m gonna be kinda wearing two hats – in charge of the security there in the town and also participating, I would imagine, with Trump in the rally, so it makes it interesting," he added, noting it "is going to be a lot of fun taking care of business there."
Arpaio also said Trump
gets a bad rap from critics who charge that he provokes violence at his campaign rallies by taunting protesters.
"They always repeat little minor things, what he said in the rally, 'oh you gotta carry him out on a stretcher, blah, blah, blah,'" Arpaio tells Politico. "I just thought that when you have a rally, you’re supposed to rally people and kind of say things that are exciting."
Politico reports "multiple groups" are planning to protest the event.
"I think Fountain Hills is obviously hostile territory for our community," Puente Arizona's director Carlos Garcia tells Politico. "It’s where Arpaio lives. No one in our community trusts Joe Arpaio."
"Not only will we have to watch ourselves for folks on the Trump side … but also the sheriff’s department."
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