REVEALED: Trump Decided To Pardon Sheriff Joe BEFORE Trial (TWEETS)



There was already no doubt that Donald Trump’s decision to pardon former Maricopa County, Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio was outrageous. It had the effect of allowing Arpaio to escape being held to account for his unconstitutional profiling of Latinos. Moreover, it flew in the face of Arpaio’s appalling record during his quarter-century as sheriff–a record shot through with disregard for the rights of prisoners, as well as publicity hounding at the expense of the innocent.

There was already no doubt that this pardon was unlawful, even if it was technically legal. For all intents and purposes, Trump circumvented the sentencing and appeals process–something that has rarely, if ever, occurred in the more controversial pardons issued by previous presidents. As Harvard Law’s Noah Feldman notes in his call for Trump to be impeached for this pardon, it is an attack on the rule of law, since Arpaio was convicted of willfully flouting a federal judge’s order.

But any claim that this pardon was even remotely legitimate was torpedoed early Saturday evening by The Washington Post. In a story that ran above the fold of Sunday’s edition, The Post revealed that Trump had already decided to pardon Arpaio in the event of a conviction.

Earlier this spring, Trump asked Attorney General Jeff Sessions if the government could drop the criminal contempt of court charge against Arpaio. Not even Sessions was willing to go that far, according to three people familiar with the discussion. Undeterred, Trump made up his mind to pardon Arpaio if federal judge Susan Bolton convicted him.

According to one White House aide, Trump was “gung-ho” about the pardon. How much? According to a White House official, everyone knew Trump was going to issue the pardon, so the West Wing had already “worked to prepare for whenever the moment may come.”


Even before this report came out, the best-case scenario for Trump’s decision was that he saw something so unjust about this case that he didn’t want the process to take its course. However, his announcement included no statement that would have even begun to justify such a radical move.

And now we know that Trump didn’t even have that in mind. He had already decided before the trial began to pardon Arpaio–and the facts be hanged. This is an act of a man who thinks he can decide when the law applies and to whom it applies. In short, this pardon was an act of a man who forgot that he is president, not king.

Until now, we believed that Trump forfeited any moral authority to lead with his outrageous suggestion that there was blame for both sides in Charlottesville. Now it is clear that he forfeited that authority sometime in May, when he saw fit to pardon a sheriff with a long and disturbing history of disregard for the Constitution. And he did so before the facts were even on the table. If this isn’t obstruction of justice, what is?

The criticism for this pardon has come in fast, hard, and from both sides of the aisle. For instance, even before the news that Trump had already made up his mind this issue hit, Senator Ron Wyden accused Trump of trampling on his oath.

Congressman Justin Amash of Michigan, a member of the Freedom Caucus, was no less unsparing.

Well, gentlemen–especially you, Congressman Amash–it’s time to put your money and your votes where your mouths are and take the first step toward righting this wrong. That is, it is time to impeach Trump and remove him from office. After all, deciding to issue a pardon before the facts are in, and in a way that circumvents the ordinary process, is the definition of abuse of power and obstruction of justice. Trump apparently knows he’s busted on this. After all, this story went live at 6:45 p.m. on Saturday–and as I write this on Sunday morning, we have yet to see any angry tweets about “the Amazon Washington Post” peddling more fake news.


Earlier this year, Congressman Al Green of Texas announced he was introducing articles of impeachment against Trump for the manner in which he fired FBI Director James Comey. He was joined a few weeks later by fellow Democrat Brad Sherman of California. Hopefully Green and Sherman are updating those articles. After all, it is now clear beyond any doubt that we have a president who has no regard for the rule of law–and the only remedy is to remove him from office.

(featured image courtesy Gage Skidmore, available under a Creative Commons BY-SA license)

Darrell is a 30-something graduate of the University of North Carolina who considers himself a journalist of the old school. An attempt to turn him into a member of the religious right in college only succeeded in turning him into the religious right's worst nightmare--a charismatic Christian who is an unapologetic liberal. His desire to stand up for those who have been scared into silence only increased when he survived an abusive three-year marriage. You may know him on Daily Kos as Christian Dem in NC. Follow him on Twitter @DarrellLucus or connect with him on Facebook. Click here to buy Darrell a Mello Yello.