President Trump has reportedly considered pardoning former Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Arizona, who was convicted of criminal contempt of court last year. But the controversial former law enforcement official has no idea if it will happen.
“So what’s the scoop? Will he pardon me?” Arpaio asked NBC News when the network reached him for comment. “Do you think he’ll do it tomorrow? Who knows, I don’t know.”
Trump is planning to be in Arpaio’s home state on Tuesday, hosting a 2020 campaign for himself at a rally in Phoenix. But the self-proclaimed “America’s toughest sheriff” won’t be attending. He wasn’t invited, but he told CNN he would be there if he got an invitation.
Last week, Trump told Fox News he was seriously considering pardoning Arpaio, which would erase the convictions against him for boasting about a court order that stops the detention of undocumented immigrants. He was also charged with forcing immigrants to sleep in tent cities, NBC News reported.
“He has done a lot in the fight against illegal immigration,” Trump said. “He’s a great American patriot and I hate to see what has happened to him,” Trump told Fox.
Arpaio is well-liked in the conservative world. He is known for his aggressive immigration policies and in 2013, a judge found that he had discriminated against Latinos.
He endorsed President Donald Trump’s 2016 election campaign.
He served as the sheriff for 24 years and was not reelected last November.
“That’s a legal matter. So I’m not going to comment. But let me say: I don’t surrender. A lot of things about all this — you’ll probably not believe me — about the judges, the bias. You don’t think we’ve heard it all? No way,” he told NBC News.