Trump to rally supporters next Tuesday in Phoenix

NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump plans to rally supporters in Phoenix next week.

Trump’s campaign announced the event Wednesday — a day after the president blamed “both sides” for weekend violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, between white supremacists and counter-demonstrators.

The campaign says the Aug. 22 rally will take place at the Phoenix Convention Center.

The president has been holding campaign-style events in Trump-friendly areas since he took office. Next week’s rally will be Trump’s first in the West.

Trump told Fox News in an interview this week that he may pardon Joe Arpaio (ahr-PY’-oh), the former Phoenix-area sheriff who recently was convicted in federal court.

A federal judge ruled in 2013 that Arpaio’s officers had racially profiled Latinos. Critics say a pardon would amount to an endorsement of racism.