An administration official said Wednesday the White House has prepared paperwork to pardon Sheriff Joe Arpaio after President Donald Trump hinted during a rally in Phoenix on Tuesday that he would pardon the former Arizona official.
“I won’t do it tonight because I don’t want to cause any controversy,” Trump said in reference to Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton’s comment that doing so would “inflame passions,” CNN reported. “I’ll make a prediction,” Trump also said. “I think he’s going to be just fine.”
Arpaio was convicted in July of criminal contempt of court for disobeying a court order to stop detaining and arresting suspected undocumented immigrants because he was using racial profiling to do so. He is scheduled for sentencing on that conviction in October and could get up to six months in jail.
According to NBC News, during the rally the crowd shouted “Pardon Joe!” when Trump asked, “Was Sheriff Joe convicted for doing his job?”
Arpaio was sheriff in Maricopa County for 24 years before losing a re-election bid last November.
The sheriff, who used controversial tactics like housing immigrants in tents and making them wear pink underwear, has been a longtime Trump supporter.
“I’ve been with him from day one, and I’ll always be with him and support him,” Arpaio said, NBC reported.
Trump also defended his remarks about a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virgina, that turned violent, saying that his words were “perfect,” that he condemned the KKK and white nationalists, and that the media coverage had only given “a platform to hate groups” and used a “double standard” in evaluating his response.
Twitter users again accused Trump of racism and of ignoring the rule of law.
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