• Trump pardons ex-Sheriff Joe Arpaio,
White House security aide resigns, citing recent departures
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump spared his ally former Sheriff Joe Arpaio a possible jail sentence on Friday by pardoning his conviction, reversing what critics saw as a longawaited comeuppance for a lawman who escaped accountability for headlinegrabbing tactics during most of his 24 years as metropolitan Phoenix’s top law enforcer.
The White House said the 85-year-old ex-sheriff was a “worthy candidate” for a presidential pardon.
“Throughout his time as Sheriff, Arpaio continued his life’s work of protecting the public from the scourges of crime and illegal immigration,” the White House statement said.
The announcement to pardon Mr. Arpaio came three days after a rally in Phoenix at which the president signaled his willingness to absolve the misdemeanor contempt-of-court conviction.
Critics say the former lawman sowed divisions by making hundreds of arrests in crackdowns that separated immigrant families and promoted a culture of cruelty by housing inmates in outdoor tents in tripledigit heat and forcing them to wear pink underwear.
They said Mr. Arpaio has a history of misconduct, including a 2013 civil verdict in which the sheriff’s officers were found to have racially profiled Latinos in his immigration patrols.
Mr. Arpaio was accused of prolonging the patrols for 17 months after a judge had ordered them stopped so that he could promote his immigration enforcement efforts in a bid to boost his ultimately successful 2012 reelection campaign. The decision to ignore the 2011 order is believed to have contributed to Mr. Arpaio’s 2016 loss to little-known retired Phoenix police Sgt. Paul Penzone.
During the presidential campaign, Mr. Arpaio supported Mr. Trump.
Security aide Gorka out
White House national security aide Sebastian Gorka resigned from his position Friday in a stinging letter to the president.
A White House official, however, said Mr. Gorka did not resign but “no longer works at the White House.”
In a letter posted Friday by The Federalist website, Mr. Gorka wrote that “the individuals who most embodied and represented the policies that will ‘Make America Great Again,’ have been internally countered, systematically removed, or undermined in recent months.”
Mr. Gorka, 46, had defended the Trump administration’s efforts to temporarily ban travel from some predominantly Muslim countries.
He also has been accused of having links to far-right groups in Europe.