Joe Arpaio appears with President Donald Trump during a 2016 campaign event in Iowa. The former sheriff was convicted in late July of criminal contempt in a racial profiling case and faces a maximum of six months in jail. | Mary Altaffer/AP Photo. Arpaio keeping his calendar clear for possible Trump pardon The former Maricopa County sheriff said Monday that he doesn’t know whether the president will pardon him at the Phoenix rally.

Former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio said Monday that he doesn’t know whether President Donald Trump will grant him a pardon this week — but he’s keeping his calendar open.

When asked whether he would be available when Trump visits Phoenix on Tuesday, the 85-year-old former Arizona lawman told POLITICO that “of course” he would be.


“I’ve been doing rallies with him many, many times, and sometimes things are done the last minute,” Arpaio said.

The former sheriff was convicted in late July of criminal contempt in a racial profiling case and faces a maximum of six months in jail. He is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 5.

Trump told Fox News last week that he was “seriously considering” a pardon for Arpaio, a controversial opponent of illegal immigration and staunch Trump ally.

Arpaio has said he would accept a pardon if offered, but he has declined to say whether he’s been contacted by the White House.

“I can’t answer that right now," Arpaio told POLITICO on Aug. 14. "I don’t want to avoid it, but right now I can’t answer that.”

Trump plans to head to Phoenix on Tuesday for a campaign-style rally. Critics fear the event could inflame tensions following the president's comments last week that “both sides” were to blame for violence at a deadly rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, that drew white nationalists and neo-Nazis, along with counterprotesters.