Trump’s first pardon spares ally convicted in racial profiling case

PHOENIX (AP) – President Donald Trump spared former Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio, the prospect of serving jail time in granting the first pardon of his turbulent tenure, wiping away the lawman's recent federal conviction stemming from his immigration patrols that focused on Latinos.

The White House said 85-year-old Arpaio was a “worthy candidate” for the pardon, citing his “life's work of protecting the public from the scourges of crime and illegal immigration.” Trump granted the pardon less than a month after a judge found Arpaio guilty of a misdemeanor contempt-of-court charge in a trial that was prosecuted by the president's own Justice Department.

“I appreciate what the president did,” Arpaio told The Associated Press as he celebrated the news over an Italian restaurant meal and someone in his party ordered champagne. “I have to put it out there: Pardon, no pardon – I'll be with him as long as he's president.”

The pardon drew a swift and harsh denunciation from an array of Latinos and political leaders, who said it amounted to presidential approval of racism by eliminating the conviction of a law officer who the courts said had used immigration patrols to racially profile Latinos. And it overturned what critics saw as a long-awaited comeuppance for a lawman who long escaped accountability for his use of headline-grabbing tactics as sheriff in Phoenix.

“Pardoning Joe Arpaio is a slap in the face to the people of Maricopa County, especially the Latino community and those he victimized as he systematically and illegally violated their civil rights,” Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton said.

The White House announced the pardon late Friday as a powerful Category 4 hurricane threatened Texas with severe flooding and on the same day Trump fleshed out the details of his ban on transgender individuals serving in the military, another move that will cheer his conservative base. The decision followed the uproar that ensued after Trump assigned blame to “both sides” participating in race-fueled clashes in Charlottesville, Virginia, this month.

Trump has been plagued by poor job approval ratings, currently at 34 percent, the lowest mark ever for a president in his first year.

His decision on the former sheriff may also serve to energize supporters dispirited by the president's dismissal a week ago of chief strategist Steve Bannon, a favorite on the far right wing of the Republican Party.