TRUMP WEIGHED DROPPING CASE
LONG BEFORE he pardoned Joe Arpaio, President Trump asked Attorney General Jeff Sessions about dropping the criminal case against the polarizing ex-Arizona sheriff, a new report says. Trump ultimately agreed to let the case go to trial after being told this past spring that it would be inappropriate to pull the plug, according to The Washington Post. Even then, Trump had decided that he would issue a pardon if Arpaio was convicted of defying a court order to stop racial profiling of Latinos, The Post reported. The President was “gung-ho about it,” an associate said. Arpaio, 85, the controversial former lawman known as “America’s toughest sheriff,” was convicted of criminal contempt in July. Trump announced his longplanned pardon Friday night as media attention was focused on Hurricane Harvey barreling toward Texas. “We knew the President wanted to do this for some time now and had worked to prepare for whenever the moment may come,” one White House official told The Post. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders downplayed the report. “It’s only natural the President would have a discussion with administration lawyers about legal matters,” she said. “This case would be no different.”