Trump defends pardon, says ex-Ariz. sheriff treated ‘unfairly’

President Donald Trump on Monday defended his pardon of former Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio, telling reporters the sheriff was treated “unbelievably unfairly.”

Speaking at a joint news conference with the president of Finland, Trump made his first comments on Arpaio since his decision to pardon the Arizona lawman Friday — defending both the timing of the pardon late Friday evening, as Hurricane Harvey made landfall, and the decision itself.

“He’s done a great job for the people of Arizona, he’s very strong on borders, very strong on illegal immigration, he is loved in Arizona,” Trump said. “I thought he was treated unbelievably unfairly when they came down with their big decision to go get him, right before the election voting started.”

He added: “I thought that was a very, very unfair thing to do.”

Addressing the specific timing of his pardon — which seemed to embody a classic “news dump,” coming as the nation focused on the impending storm — the president said he actually imagined the pardon would have attracted even more media attention, because of the Harvey coverage.

“Actually in the middle of a hurricane, even though it was a Friday evening, I assumed the ratings would be far higher than they would be normally,” he said.

Arpaio — the former sheriff of Maricopa County, Ariz., who earned a reputation for his rough treatment of criminals, especially Latino criminals — was found guilty by a federal judge of criminal contempt for ignoring a court order to stop detaining people simply because he believed they were in the country illegally.

Trump seemed prepared to defend his pardon of Arpaio, a decision that drew pointed rebukes, including by some members of his own party.

At the news conference, when asked about Arpaio, he began reading from a sheet of paper, listing controversial pardons under former Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.

After reading the list — including Marc Rich, a fugitive businessman whose wife had donated to both the Clinton Library foundation and the Democratic Party — Trump concluded that Arpaio, whom he described as “a great veteran of the military” and a “great law enforcement person,” still had his support.

“So I stand by my pardon of Sheriff Joe and I think the people of Arizona who really know him best would agree with me,” he said.

Former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio was a “great law enforcement person” the president said.