Trump’s pardon of Arpaio remains national topic of conversation
Aug 27, 2017, 11:03 AM | Updated: 3:00 pm
PHOENIX — Two days after President Donald Trump pardoned former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, both Republicans and Democrats continue feeding the conversation regarding the highly-controversial decision.
On Saturday and Sunday, it was the current Speaker of the House, a former challenger to Trump’s presidency and a former vice president who spoke out.
“I actually have the power of pardoning in my state,” said former Republican presidential candidate and Ohio Gov. John Kasich in an interview with Meet the Press. “We do clemencies over time, but we make sure people do proper restitution. I wouldn’t have done it this way. It absolutely should be out of bounds for somebody use that as some sort of political wedge. It appears that is what it was.
“I don’t agree with what he did. I couldn’t be any more loud in what I have to say than to tell you what I do because my actions reflect how I feel.”
Arpaio was found guilty in late July of misdemeanor contempt when he continued his immigration sweeps for 17 months after a judge ordered him to stop.
His sentencing was scheduled for Oct. 5 and Arpaio could have faced up to six months in jail. The pardon made him an innocent man.
Kasich wasn’t the only other leader outside Arizona to criticize Trump’s pardon over the weekend.
Former Vice President Joe Biden cited the decision in an op-ed for The Atlantic.
His contempt for the U.S. Constitution and willingness to divide this nation knows no bounds. Now he’s pardoned a law-enforcement official who terrorized the Latino community, violated its constitutional rights, defied a federal court order to stop, and ran a prison system so rife with torture and abuse he himself called it a “concentration camp.”
Republican and House Speaker Paul Ryan’s spokesman Doug Andres, said Ryan “does not agree with this decision,” according to CNN.
“Law enforcement officials have a special responsibility to respect the rights of everyone in the United States. We should not allow anyone to believe that responsibility is diminished by this pardon,” Andres said in a statement.
New York Sen. Chuck Schumer on Friday went as far as calling Trump’s timing of the pardon a deliberate move — he tweeted it was meant to be swept quickly through the news cycles as Hurricane Harvey caused catastrophic flooding across Texas.
As millions of people in TX and LA are prepping for the hurricane, the President is using the cover of the storm to 1/
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) August 26, 2017
Pardon a man who violated a court's order to stop discriminating against Latinos and 2/
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) August 26, 2017
Then he ran to Camp David.
The only reason to do these right now is to use the cover of Hurricane Harvey to avoid scrutiny 4/
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) August 26, 2017
So sad, so weak. 5/5
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) August 26, 2017
On Face the Nation Sunday, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism Tom Bossert defended Trump’s pardon and said Schumer’s assertion about the timing of it was incorrect.
.@TomBossert45 calls accusations that Trump pardoned Arpaio late Friday in hopes coverage would be overshadowed by Harvey "wrong" pic.twitter.com/yyddO0sDX6
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) August 27, 2017
Following the official news of Trump’s pardon on Friday, Arizona leaders spoke out with mixed reactions.
Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton called the pardon a slap in the face to Maricopa County’s Latino community, while Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey said Arpaio “deserves credit for helping to reduce crime in Maricopa County over his long career in law enforcement and public office.”
The president intimated he planned to pardon the former sheriff during an Aug. 22 rally in Phoenix, but did not want to do so while in the city to avoid causing controversy.
