“Joe Arpaio, the tough-guy former sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona, announced that he’s running for his old job on Sunday, exactly two years after President Trump pardoned him for a federal contempt-of-court conviction,” NBC News reports.
Bonus Quote of the Day
“That’s hard for me to answer. Because I never had a hero in my life until several months ago when I woke up after 75 years, and I found my hero. You know who that person is? Donald Trump.”
— Arizona U.S. Senate candidate Joe Arpaio (R), quoted by the Washington Post, when asked if Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) was a hero.
It’s Joe Arpaio’s Party Now
McKay Coppins: “Former Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio has the kind of résumé that in some other, hard-to-remember era would have consigned him to the fringes of American politics.”
“Now, he wants to be the a United States senator—and he believes the political climate has never been better for a candidate like him.”
“In a phone interview Wednesday, Arpaio told me the national GOP had moved sharply in his direction in recent years. All that gauzy post-2012 talk of Republicans reaching out to Latino voters and championing ‘compassionate’ immigration reform seems like a distant memory now—replaced by a climate in which the godfather of the birther movement can become president by promising to keep Mexican rapists out of the country with a massive border wall.”
Arpaio Will Run for Senate In Arizona
Joe Arpaio (R), “a close ally of President Trump and former sheriff known for his provocative approach to combating illegal immigration, is running for Senate in Arizona,” the Washington Examiner reports.
“The 85-year-old Arpaio could shake up the late August Republican primary in a critical open-seat race to replace retiring Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ).”
Judge Refuses to Erase Arpaio’s Conviction
“A federal judge shot down former sheriff Joe Arpaio’s bid to sweep his criminal record clean,” the Washington Post reports.
“In her ruling, U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton said the pardon only freed Arpaio from possible punishment. In a four-page order offering a check on the president’s executive power, Bolton wrote that a pardon could not erase the facts of the case.”
Extra Bonus Quote of the Day
“It has to go down as the biggest cover-up in the history of the United States. Nobody wants to touch it.”
— Recently-pardoned Sheriff Joe Arpaio, quoted by the San Jose Mercury News, saying he plans on continuing a long-running investigation into Barack Obama’s birth certificate.
Most Disapprove of Trump’s Decision on Arpaio
A new NBC News-Survey Monkey poll finds 61% of Americans view President Trump unfavorably — with 48% saying they have a strongly unfavorable impression of him — as compared to just 36% who have a favorable view.
Also interesting: 60% of Americans think Trump did the wrong thing when he granted former Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio a pardon and 34% said the President did the right think in granting Arpaio a pardon.
Fascism, American Style
Paul Krugman: “As sheriff of Maricopa County, Ariz., Joe Arpaio engaged in blatant racial discrimination. His officers systematically targeted Latinos, often arresting them on spurious charges and at least sometimes beating them up when they questioned those charges. Read the report from the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, and prepare to be horrified.”
“Let’s call things by their proper names here. Arpaio is, of course, a white supremacist. But he’s more than that. There’s a word for political regimes that round up members of minority groups and send them to concentration camps, while rejecting the rule of law: What Arpaio brought to Maricopa, and what the president of the United States has just endorsed, was fascism, American style.”
The Politics of Pardoning Joe Arpaio
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McCain Condemns Trump’s Pardon of Arpaio
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) blasted President Trump’s pardon last night of Sheriff Joe Arpaio.
Said McCain: “No one is above the law and the individuals entrusted with the privilege of being sworn law officers should always seek to be beyond reproach in their commitment to fairly enforcing the laws they swore to uphold. Mr. Arpaio was found guilty of criminal contempt for continuing to illegally profile Latinos living in Arizona based on their perceived immigration status in violation of a judge’s orders.”
He added: “The President has the authority to make this pardon, but doing so at this time undermines his claim for the respect of rule of law as Mr. Arpaio has shown no remorse for his actions.”
Trump Pardons Joe Arpaio
“President Trump pardoned Joe Arpaio, the former Arizona sheriff whose aggressive efforts to hunt down and detain undocumented immigrants made him a national symbol of the divisive politics of immigration and earned him a criminal contempt conviction,” the New York Times reports.
In a two-paragraph statement, the White House said that Mr. Arpaio gave “years of admirable service to our nation” and called him a “worthy candidate for a presidential pardon.”
Washington Post: “Trump’s pardon came late on a Friday night, at a time when much of the country is focused on a Category 4 hurricane bearing down on Texas. Hurricane Harvey is the most powerful such storm to hit the nation in 12 years.”
Politico: “Civil liberties and immigrant rights groups reacted with disgust after the White House released news of the pardon Friday night.”
Trump All but Promises to Pardon Arpaio
President Trump “all but promised to pardon Joe Arpaio, the hard-line former sheriff of Maricopa County, Ariz., who became a national symbol of the campaign against undocumented immigrants, and whose round-’em-up raids have landed him in legal trouble,” the New York Times reports.
Said Trump: “I’ll make a prediction — I think he is going to be just fine. But I won’t do it tonight because I don’t want to cause any controversy. But Sheriff Joe can feel good.”
Trump May Pardon Sheriff Joe Arpaio
President Trump told Fox News that he may soon issue a pardon for Joe Arpaio, the former Arizona sheriff who was found guilty two weeks ago of criminal contempt for defying a state judge’s order to stop traffic patrols targeting suspected undocumented immigrants.
Said Trump: “I am seriously considering a pardon for Sheriff Arpaio. He has done a lot in the fight against illegal immigration. He’s a great American patriot and I hate to see what has happened to him.”
Trump said the pardon “could happen in the next few days.”
Arpaio Plans Briefing on Obama Birth Certificate
“Outgoing Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio has announced that he will hold a news conference on Thursday to present the newest revelations in his years-long investigation of President Obama’s birth certificate,” KPHO reports.
Arpaio Charged with Criminal Contempt
“Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio was officially charged Tuesday with criminal contempt of court when a federal judge affixed her signature, a formality that throws the lawman’s political and personal future into a level of crisis never before seen in his 23 years in office,” the Arizona Republic reports.
“Criminal-contempt charges have loomed over Arpaio since 2015. A criminal trial was the worst-case scenario for the sheriff after he admitted to violating a federal judge’s order to stop enforcing civil immigration laws.”
Judge Refers Arpaio for Criminal Contempt
A federal judge said that he “will refer Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio to the U.S. Attorney’s Office to be charged with criminal contempt of court,” the Arizona Republic reports.
“The decision comes after U.S. District Judge G. Murray Snow found that Arpaio intentionally violated various orders rooted in an 8-year-old racial-profiling case.”
Arpaio’s Office Raided by Feds
U.S. marshals raided Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s office “in search of evidence after a court-appointed special monitor said the agency had withheld hundreds of documents a federal judge had ordered to be turned over months ago,” the Arizona Republic reports.
