WASHINGTON, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump defended Monday his controversial pardon of Joe Arpaio, a former sheriff of the U.S. state of Arizona, who was convicted of criminal contempt in a racial profiling case earlier this year.
"Well, a lot of people think it was the right thing to do," Trump said in a White House press conference when asked to respond to broad criticism, including some in his own party, over the pardon.
"He's done a great job for the people of Arizona. He is very strong on borders, very strong on illegal immigration," Trump argued, defending his decision to pardon the sheriff who took an outspoken and tough stance on immigration issues.
Arpaio, 85, was convicted late last month for willfully violating a 2011 court order that stops officers from detaining people simply on suspicion of being illegal immigrants.
The former sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona, who had a reputation for his rough treatment of criminals, especially Hispanic ones, faced a maximum of six years in prison.
The White House announced that Trump would pardon Arpaio last Friday night when Hurricane Harvey was about to make landfall in coastal areas of Texas State, an attempt criticized for burying the controversial announcement under a barrage of weather headlines.
However, Trump said he decided to announce the pardon Friday evening because he believed that more people would be watching television at that time for the sake of hurricane.
"I assumed the ratings would be far higher than they would be normally," he told reporters.
"Sheriff Joe was very unfairly treated by the Obama administration, especially right before an election, an election that he would have won. And he was elected many times," he added.
Reading a prepared sheet of paper, Trump also rattled off other controversial pardons to the former official under his predecessors Bill Clinton and Barack Obama to defend his move.
Although Trump touted his decision was supported by people of Arizona, the pardon met criticism from the two Republican senators of the state.
Senator Jeff Flake said he would have preferred Trump to "honor the judicial process and let it take its course," while Senator John McCain said he believes the pardon "undermines Trump's claim for the respect of rule of law."
Arpaio was also known for campaigning for Trump last year and investigating groundless claims that Obama was not born in the United States.
