The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Trump’s pardon of ex-Arizona sheriff reportedly long planned
President, Arpaio shared views on Obama, border.
As Joe Arpaio’s federal case headed toward trial this past spring, President Donald Trump wanted to act to help the former Arizona sheriff who had become a campaign-trail companion and a partner in their crusade against illegal immigration.
The president asked Attorney General Jeff Sessions whether it would be possible for the government to drop the criminal case against Arpaio, but was advised that would be inappropriate, according to three people with knowledge of the conversation.
After talking with Sessions, Trump decided to let the case go to trial, and if Arpaio was convicted, he could grant clemency, the people said.
So the president waited, all the while planning to issue a pardon if Arpaio was found in contempt of court for defying a federal judge’s order to stop detaining people because he suspected them of being undocumented immigrants. Trump was, in the words of one associate, “gung-ho about it.”
“We knew the president wanted to do this for some time now and had worked to prepare for whenever the moment may come,” said one White House official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the action.
Responding to questions about Trump’s conversation with Sessions, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said, “It’s only natural the president would have a discussion with administration lawyers about legal matters. This case would be no different.”
The Justice Department declined to comment.
Trump’s decision to issue his first pardon Friday evening for Arpaio was the culmination of a five-year political friendship. In an unusual exercise of presidential power, Trump bypassed the traditional review process to ensure that Arpaio, who was convicted of contempt of court, would face no time in prison.
Trump’s pardon, issued without consulting the Justice Department, raised a storm of protest over the weekend, including from House Speaker Paul Ryan, who announced through a spokesman, Doug Andres, that he disagreed with the decision.
“Law enforcement officials have a special responsibility to respect the rights of everyone in the United States,” Andres said in a statement. “We should not allow anyone to believe that responsibility is diminished by this pardon.”
Experts said Trump’s effort to see if the case could be dropped showed a troubling disregard for the traditional wall between the White House and the Justice Department, and taken together with similar actions could undermine respect for the rule of law.
Arpaio faced up to six months in prison and was due to be sentenced in October. During his 23 years as Maricopa County sheriff, Arpaio was a lightning rod for Latino advocates, in part because of his aggressive crackdown on undocumented immigrants. He also was accused of racial profiling, failure to investigate sex crimes, poor treatment of prisoners and other instances of police misconduct.
To Trump, however, Arpaio is an American hero — a man who enlisted in the military at age 18 after the outbreak of the Korean War, worked as a beat cop in Washington and Las Vegas and as a special agent investigating drug crimes around the world, then got elected sheriff in Phoenix, an epicenter of the nation’s roiling immigration debate. They bonded over their mutual effort to question whether President Barack Obama was born in the United States.
Arpaio’s age weighed on Trump, some of his confidants said. The 71-year-old president could not stomach seeing an 85-year-old he admired as a law-andorder icon wasting away in a jail cell.
Trump’s spring inquiry about intervening in Arpaio’s case is consistent with his attempt to get then-FBI Director James Comey to drop the federal investigation of Michael Flynn, the former national security adviser suspected of colluding with Russia during the presidential campaign.