August 25, 2017Gronda Morin

aside The President Couldn’t Stand It: He Has Pardoned Sheriff Arpaio

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The republican President Donald Trump is acting overtime to cater to his base, no matter how harmful his enacted plans are to the country, as a whole.

Just when “we the people” think that our president can’t sink much lower as when he recently gave cover to racists, he proves us wrong.

On the evening of August 25, 2017, “we the people” are learning from the news media that president has taken the step to pardon Sheriff Joe Arpaio, an anti-immigration activist who had acted outside of his authority. This step was taken only after he had already publicly revealed his racist leanings in mid- August 2017 by equating alt-right hate groups with those who oppose them; after he had ordered the reinstatement to ban transgender individuals from military service; after he had threatened the shut down of the US government if the US Congress did not approve funding for his Southern US wall; and after he had indicated his serious consideration to end the DACA program.

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Here is the rest of the story...

On August 25, 2017, the Washington Post Staff penned the following report, “Trump has pardoned former Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio, whose hardline views on immigration have allied him with the president.”

“Arpaio was recently convicted of criminal contempt for ignoring a federal judge’s order to stop detaining people because he merely suspected them of being undocumented immigrants. Trump’s pardon is particularly unusual since Arpaio has not been sentenced yet. The move may prompt questions about how extensively Trump will use his pardon power, including whether he will do so on behalf of individuals caught up in the Russia investigation.”

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The Arizonan republican Senator John McCain posted a statement on his website, regarding President Trump’s pardon of Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ) released the following statement today on President Trump’s pardon of former Sheriff Joe Arpaio:

“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. 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.”

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On August 25, 2017, New York Times published the following report, “Trump Pardons Joe Arpaio, Who Became Face of Crackdown on Illegal Immigration.”

Excerpts:

“President Trump on Friday (8/25/17) 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.”

“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.”

“Mr. Trump called Mr. Arpaio “an American patriot” in a tweet later Friday. “He kept Arizona safe!” the president said.”

“In his own tweets, Mr. Arpaio thanked Mr. Trump and called his conviction “a political witch hunt by holdovers in the Obama justice department.” He also pointed his supporters to a website that was accepting donations to help him pay off his legal fees.”

“Mr. Trump, who made cracking down on illegal immigration a signature campaign issue and had pressed for local officials to do more to assist federal authorities in rounding up undocumented people, had been openly flirting with the idea of pardoning Mr. Arpaio.”

“I won’t do it tonight because I don’t want to cause any controversy,” the president said Tuesday (8/22/17)  night at a campaign-style rally in Phoenix, after asking, “Was Sheriff Joe convicted for doing his job?”

“I’ll make a prediction: I think he’s going to be just fine,” Mr. Trump said.”

“Mr. Arpaio, 85, served for 24 years as sheriff of Maricopa County — which includes Phoenix — building a national reputation for harsh conditions in his county jail, and for his campaign against undocumented immigrants.”

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“Mr. Arpaio had touted himself as “America’s toughest sheriff,” making inmates wear pink underwear and serving jail food that at least some prisoners called inedible. He was also at the forefront of the so-called birther movement that aimed to investigate President Barack Obama’s birth certificate.”(He had gone to Hawaii to look into the birth certificate at the behest of Mr. Trump.)

“The criminal conviction grew out of a lawsuit filed a decade ago charging that the sheriff’s office regularly violated the rights of Latinos, stopping people based on racial profiling, detaining them based solely on the suspicion that they were in the country illegally and turning them over to the immigration authorities.”

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“A federal district judge hearing the case ordered Mr. Arpaio in 2011 to stop detaining people based solely on suspicion of their immigration status, when there was no evidence that a state law had been broken. But the sheriff insisted that his tactics were legal and that he would continue employing them.”

“He was convicted last month of criminal contempt of court for defying the order, a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in jail.”

“The pardon was swiftly condemned on Twitter by Democrats in Congress as “outrageous and completely unacceptable” and a “disgrace.”

“Its timing also raised eyebrows, coming on the eve of Hurricane Harvey, a Category 4 storm, barreling down on coastal Texas. Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the minority leader, accused Mr. Trump of “using the cover of the storm” to pardon Mr. Arpaio and to issue a formal ban on transgender people from joining the military. (The ban also gives the secretary of defense wide latitude to decide whether currently serving transgender troops should remain in the military.)”

“The only reason to do these right now is to use the cover of Hurricane Harvey to avoid scrutiny,” Mr. Schumer said in a series of tweets late Friday. “So sad, so weak.”

“Mr. Trump’s supporters hailed the pardon as a sign the president was keeping his word on his campaign pledge to crack down on illegal immigration.”

“Kelli Ward, a former Arizona state senator who is challenging Senator Jeff Flake in a Republican primary for his seat in 2018, called Mr. Arpaio “a patriot who did the job the Feds refused to do.” Mr. Trump has endorsed Ms. Ward’s candidacy.”

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“But the decision to make the announcement during a national news blackout related to the impending hurricane was not accidental. Some in the Trump administration had cautioned against it as too controversial, and had urged waiting, if it were going to be done.”

“Mr. Bannon had favored the move, as had Mr. Trump’s policy adviser, Stephen Miller, a former adviser to Jeff Sessions, the attorney general and a former senator for whom Mr. Miller served as press secretary.”

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“Mr. Sessions and Mr. Miller share a hard-line view on curtailing immigration levels, and Mr. Arpaio had become a national avatar for Mr. Trump, who had a good relationship with the sheriff during the 2016 presidential campaign. Mr. Trump had told Mr. Arpaio that he would try to help him if he could down the road.”

“But that was before Mr. Trump was closing in on Hillary Clinton in the presidential race. Still, he was fond of Mr. Arpaio, and was sold on the pardon as a way of pleasing his political base. Additionally, Mr. Miller fought hard for the pardon, according to a senior administration official.”

17 comments

    • Dear Kim,

      You are right in figuring out that he is desperately trying to shore up his base by any means possible.

      I am beyond disgusted/ infuriated. He is truly wanting to take this country back to our dark racist days.

      There is one thing he can’t do but he’ll give it the college try. He cannot pardon himself.

      Hugs, Gronda

      Liked by 1 person

  3. A-pardonning we’ll go; a-pardonning we’ll go, hey ho the… Yup, and those powerful who pardon criminals do so because they know they themselves are criminals and will be in need of pardonning down the line, sooner than later. Pardon me? Sure, if you’ll pardon me. Sure, thanks. What a fk’nnnnnnnn farce it’s all become. A world military power ruled by the one percent who may, or may not even be Americans (they only need be globalists), supported by a brain-dead guaranteed 25%. That’s capitalistic democracy for ya!

    Liked by 1 person

    • Dear Sha’Tara,

      The only positive thought that I have from this, is that he cannot pardon himself. He may try this stunt but the vast majority of legal experts say that this action would not survive a supreme court challenge.

      Hugs, Gronda

      Like

    • Dear Horty,

      He needs to be stopped. Congress had better step up to their oversight duties or it will take forever for most Americans to forgive them. Why would they want the face of DDT to be the face of the republican party?

      Thanks a million times over for all of your support and for this reblog.

      Hugs, Gronda

      Liked by 1 person

      • Most welcome, my dear! I’m so overwhelmed, dejected, almost broken. I can’t believe all this is happening! 😪
        I have no words … the America I knew is fading away fast!

        Liked by 1 person

  6. “The President has pardon or clemency power under Article II, Section 2, clause 1, of the Constitution, under the Pardon Clause. The clause says the President “shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offenses against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.” The Office of the Pardon Attorney, which is part of the Justice Department, has handled such matters for the President since 1893, and it has a detailed description of the pardon and clemency process on its website.”

    https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/explaining-president-obamas-outgoing-pardon-powers

    Liked by 1 person

    • Dear !EarthUnited,

      The president does have the power to grant pardons. There is nothing illegal in what he did. It is an act that the vast majority of Americans will NOT APPROVE of because he is pardoning someone who as a law enforcement officer, flaunted the rule of law.. What he did was wrong on so many levels.

      ugs, Gronda

      Liked by 1 person

  8. That’s one of the reasons DT has the VP he does. He expects the VP to pardon him after he pardons everyone else. They’ll wrap everything up in a tight little bundle hoping everyone will forget or forgive or both. It’ll be interesting to see if the VP can get reelected when and if DT leaves office early and he inherits the job. Gerald Ford sure didn’t. —- Suzanne

    Liked by 2 people

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