Trump says high Hurricane Harvey TV ratings led to Friday’s Arpaio pardon
Aug 28, 2017, 2:09 PM | Updated: 2:09 pm
Trump says he pardoned Arpaio as Harvey hit Texas because "I assumed the ratings would be far higher than they would be normally." (via CBS) pic.twitter.com/4SecfqrShU
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) August 28, 2017
PHOENIX — President Donald Trump said Monday he decided to pardon former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio as Hurricane Harvey was about to hit Texas because ratings would be high.
“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 during a joint press conference with Finnish President Sauli Niinisto.
Trump went on to echo his Friday statement, saying he granted the pardon because of Arpaio’s long career.
“He’s done a great job for the people of Arizona,” the president said. “He’s very strong on borders, very strong on illegal immigration.
“He is loved in Arizona.”
Trump also said he felt the lawsuit that ended with Arpaio being found guilty of misdemeanor of criminal contempt of court was the reason the former lawman was not re-elected in November.
“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, as you know,” Trump said.
“He lost a fairly close election. He would have won the election but they hammered him just before.”
Arpaio lost to Maricopa County Sheriff Paul Penzone by a 56-44 margin.
Numerous officials, including both Sens. John McCain and Jeff Flake, criticized Trump on Friday for granting the pardon. The president seemed unaffected by those words on Monday.
“I stand by my pardon of Sheriff Joe and I think the people of Arizona who really know him best agree with me,” he said.
Arpaio’s lawyers filed Monday to vacate the guilty ruling.
