In Phoenix, Trump rips news media, threatens shutdown
Protesters clash with police after freewheeling speech
PHOENIX — President Donald Trump on Tuesday threatened to shut down the government over border wall funding, said the North American Free Trade Agreement is likely to be terminated and signaled that he was prepared to pardon former Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio, who is anathema to the Latino community.
Trump’s freewheeling comments came during a boisterous rally here during which he also went on an extended diatribe about the media, blaming reporters for the negative fallout he has received over his responses to the hatefueled violence in Charlottesville, Va.
Arpaio was convicted last month of criminal contempt for ignoring a federal judge’s order to stop detaining people because he merely suspected them of being undocumented immigrants. A major Trump supporter during last year’s campaign, he awaits sentencing.
“So was Sheriff Joe convicted for doing his job?” Trump asked the crowd. “You know what, I’ll make a prediction: I think
he’s going to be just fine, OK? But I won’t do it tonight because I don’t want to cause any controversy. But Sheriff Joe should feel good.”
Trump last week told Fox News he was “seriously considering” a pardon for Arpaio and said he might do it soon, sparking speculation he would use Tuesday’s campaign here to make the move.
In a speech that stretched well over an hour, Trump also expressed frustration with efforts to negotiate with Canada and Mexico to improve NAFTA, saying he was more likely to terminate the deal. He also blamed “obstructionist Democrats” for standing in the way of funding for a U.S.-Mexico border wall and suggesting a government shutdown might be needed to force their hand. And Trump called for ending the filibuster rule requiring 60 votes for many issues in the U.S. Senate, a move that Republican leaders have refused to embrace.
At the outset of the rally, Trump selectively recounted the series of statements he made in the days following the melee in Charlottesville, arguing that he “spoke out forcefully against hatred and bigotry and violence” but that the media — whom he called “sick people” — refused to report it properly.
“You know where my heart is,” Trump said, before pulling a copy of his first of three statements on the violence out of his suit coat and reading it to his audience. He later accused the media of giving a platform to the hate groups that were central to the violence in Charlottesville that led to three deaths.
Following his comments last week, Trump was widely criticized for blaming “both sides” for the violence and saying that “fine people” had marched along with white supremacists to protest the removal of a Confederate statue. He did not mention either of those remarks Tuesday.
The rally, organized by Trump’s re-election campaign, came as the president continues to face criticism for his response to Charlottesville and feuds with fellow Republicans in Congress whose cooperation he will need to kick-start his sputtering legislative agenda next month.
Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton, a Democrat, had urged Trump to not come to his city this week, saying that it was too tense of a time in the wake of the deadly Charlottesville clash between white nationalists and counterprotesters and that Trump could be setting the stage for more violent strife here. He also said a pardon of Arpaio could make the situation even more dire.
Inside a partially filled Phoenix Convention Center, Trump was given a hero’s welcome from supporters who chanted “USA! USA! USA!” and waved signs reading “Drain the Swamp,” “Make America Strong Again” and “Make America Proud Again.”
“You were there from the start, you’ve been there every day since, and believe me Arizona, I will never forget it,” Trump said at the start of his remarks, referencing a large crowd he drew at the site in early his campaign. His crowd Tuesday numbered in the thousands but did not completely fill the hall at the convention center.
Before his arrival, Trump traveled to Yuma, Ariz., where he received a closed briefing on border protection — something he touts as being among his administration’s successes — and greeted Marines and their families, signing a couple of autographs on camouflage hats.
There was a heavy police presence in downtown Phoenix, with law enforcement seeking to maintain civility between Trump supporters and detractors.
What started as a day of noisy but largely peaceful protests of Trump’s speech turned unruly after the president spoke.
A haze enveloped the night sky as protesters and police clashed outside the convention center. People fled the scene coughing as an officer in a helicopter bellowed through a speaker urging protesters to leave the area.
Officers responded with pepper spray to break up the crowd after people tossed rocks and bottles and dispersed gas, Phoenix police spokesman Jonathan Howard said. It was not immediately known if there were injuries or arrests.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.