Trump tells Fox he’s considering pardon for ‘Sheriff Joe’ Arpaio

President Trump told Fox News he is “seriously considering” a pardon for Joe Arpaio, the controversial former sheriff of Maricopa Country, Ariz.

Arpaio was found guilty of criminal contempt last month after he was ordered to stop racially profiling Latinos in his Maricopa County office. 

“I am seriously considering a pardon for Sheriff Arpaio,” Trump told Fox News at his Bedminster, N.J., golf club, where he had been staying during a vacation.

“He has done a lot in the fight against illegal immigration. He’s a great American patriot and I hate to see what has happened to him.”

Arpaio has been an outspoken opponent of illegal immigration and used aggressive tactics as sheriff that landed him in court, including pulling over Latinos that he suspected were in the country illegally. 

The former sheriff endorsed Trump last year and appeared with him on the campaign trail.

Trump’s reported comments, made on Sunday, came at a time when he was taking heat for not explicitly condemning white supremacists for the violence at a rally in Charlottesville that left one woman dead and at least 19 people injured. 

The president came out more forcefully against the white supremacist groups on Monday, declaring that “racism is evil.”