Trump signals Arpaio pardon coming Wiping out the former sheriff's contempt-of-court conviction could fuel the president's heated feud with federal judges.

President Donald Trump hinted during a speech in Arizona on Tuesday that he plans to pardon former Sheriff Joe Arpaio over his federal contempt-of-court conviction, but the president said he wouldn't take such an action immediately in order to avoid "controversy."

Trump, speaking at a rally in Phoenix, suggested that relief was on the way for the 85-year-old ex-lawman known for his tough treatment of illegal immigrants.


"I’ll make a prediction: I think he’s going to be just fine. Okay?" Trump told the crowd. "But I won’t do it tonight because I don’t want to cause any controversy. Is that okay? All right? But Sheriff Joe can feel good."

A federal judge convicted Arpaio of contempt of court last month for defying another federal judge's order mandating that Arpaio's deputies stop profiling Latinos for arrest and detention.

Any move by the president to pardon Arpaio could anger Hispanics. A pardon on a contempt charge could also further damage Trump's already frayed relationship with federal judges.

During the rally Tuesday, Trump raised doubts about the fairness of Arpaio's conviction,

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"So, was Sheriff Joe convicted for doing his job?" the president asked, drawing cheers from the crowd. "He should have had a jury."

Arpaio was convicted after a bench trial, which means he cannot be sentenced to more than six months in prison. However, the courts have ruled that no jury is required when the punishment imposed is six months or less.

Arpaio's sentencing is set for Oct. 5. He served as Maricopa County sheriff from 1993 through last year, after being defeated in the November election.

Arpaio, who watched the rally on TV at home with his wife, said he hadn’t gotten an indication from the administration that Trump would bring up the topic of a pardon.

“I didn’t know if he was going to say anything, but I had a gut feeling, knowing him, that with his courage and guts that he would say something,” Arpaio told POLITICO.

The ex-sheriff, known for keeping prisoners in outdoor tents and forcing them to don pink boxer shorts, said he had heard earlier in the day that officials were saying no pardon would be forthcoming Tuesday.

“But the president still brought it up, didn’t he?” Arpaio said “And he was very honest. I guess they were concerned about the demonstrators, which is important because you want to make sure the first priority is to the safety of the people that were outside and inside. And also I’m always concerned about the president’s safety.”

Presidents' clemency powers under the Constitution are virtually unlimited. However, a pardon for Arpaio could further fuel the president’s running feud with the federal judiciary, legal experts said. Not only would Trump be effectively overturning a judge’s verdict, but would be doing so for an offense that involves the judicial branch’s ability to command compliance with judges’ orders.

“It’s ‘in-your-face, court,’” said Nancy Gertner, a former federal judge who now teaches at Harvard Law School. “This is the kind of charge that goes to the integrity of the process…. Part of the symbol here is of basically not paying respect to an order of a federal judge.”

“It’s not unlawful, but it says something about his own contempt for the system,” she added.

University of Pittsburgh law professor Arthur Hellman said some judges could view the pardon as a further provocation.

“Shortcutting the process this way with someone who’s been found to be in contempt of court, I think it would simply reinforce the present low standing of the president with many federal judges — views which I think are hurting him,” Hellman said.

During the presidential campaign, Trump drew sharp, bipartisan criticism for arguing that a federal judge who is Latino and was handling Trump University fraud litigation was biased because of his ethnic background. Since taking office, Trump has repeatedly blasted judges for rulings against his travel-ban executive order.

In one case, the president publicly referred to a jurist who ruled against the administration as a “so-called judge.”

Hellman said it’s hard to predict what impact a pardon would have, in part because Trump’s standing with judges is already so poor.

“Trump has already burned many of those bridges with the federal judiciary…..I’m not sure whether this could make things worse, but what is different is this is action, not words,” the professor said.

Hellman said the result of the standoff could be a long-term setback to the authority of federal government lawyers and agencies.

“The tendency on the part of many federal judges to defer to the government has been to some extent wiped out by Trump’s behavior,” the professor added. “It’s not good from a systemic, institutional perspective that federal judges are viewing the president as someone who does not trust them and who, in fact, holds them in contempt.”

Despite Trump’s assurances at the rally, Arpaio declined to say whether he thought the pardon was guaranteed at this point.

“Well, that’s up to him, so I’m not going to really comment until the situation is finalized,” he said. “But it was very nice what he said about me. Forget the pardon. … He’s been making those comments for quite a while and I appreciate that he hasn’t forgotten.”

Trump's plans to visit Phoenix stoked speculation that he might pardon Arpaio during the visit. Last week, Trump fueled expectations of a pardon by retweeting a Fox News web story saying that the president was "seriously considering" such a pardon.

A Justice Department official said Monday that no official application for a pardon for Arpaio had been filed with the department's pardon office. However, Trump is free to ignore that procedure and issue a pardon even without such an application.

Critics have warned that a pardon for Arpaio would also trigger an angry reaction from many minority communities still incensed about Trump's reaction to the recent violence in Charlottesville.

Some Democrats have also predicted that a pardon for Arpaio would be a prelude to pardons from Trump for figures caught up in the criminal probe into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.

Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), previewing Trump's visit to Phoenix, said on Monday:L "I would not be surprised if the president does this that it actually has nothing to do with Arpaio, but actually has to with him setting the standard of pardons, so he can eventually start pardoning his family and all of the people within his campaign that helped collaborate with the Russians.”