Trump not expected to pardon sheriff
PHOENIX—President Donald Trump won’t pardon former sheriff Joe Arpaio during his visit to Arizona, the White House said Tuesday as supporters and protesters gathered near the site of Trump’s latest rally.
Outside the Phoenix convention center, shouting matches and minor scuffles erupted between the two sides. Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton had asked Trump to delay his political event to allow for more time of national healing.
It’s the first Trump rally since a Charlottesville, Virginia, protest organized by white supremacists led to three deaths.
Eager to capitalize on his hard-line stance on immigration, Trump had teased the politically inflammatory possibility of pardoning Arpaio. The former Maricopa County sheriff is awaiting sentencing after his conviction in federal court for disobeying court orders to stop his immigration patrols.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Trump won’t discuss or take action on a pardon “at any point today,” even the president has said he’s considering it.
The president began his Arizona visit with a brief trip to the southern edge of the country.
While touring a Marine Corps base in Yuma that is a hub of operations for the U.S. Border Patrol, Trump inspected a drone and other border equipment on display in a hangar.
Trump shook his head as he was shown a series of everyday objects, such as a fire extinguisher, that had been refashioned to secretly transport drugs across the border. Afterward, he spent about 20 minutes greeting service members in the grueling, 106-degree heat, signing caps with his “Make America Great Again” campaign slogan and posing for selfies on the tarmac just steps from Air Force One.
While Trump did not talk publicly about getting tough on immigration during his Yuma visit, the topic was sure to come up at the Phoenix rally—his eighth such event since taking office in January. The events are organized by his 2020 re-election campaign, which carefully screens attendees.
Gov. Doug Ducey, a Trump supporter, welcomed Trump at the airport. Neither of Arizona’s two Republican senators planned to appear with Trump.
Republican Sen. Jeff Flake, a conservative, has been a frequent target of Trump’s wrath.
Arizona’s other senator, John McCain, is undergoing treatment for an aggressive form of brain cancer. Trump has been critical of McCain for voting against a Republican health care bill.