President Trump told Fox News that he is "seriously considering a pardon" for former Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who was found guilty of criminal contempt in July after violating a 2011 federal order that demanded the Maricopa County, Arizona, lawman stop racially profiling Latinos in immigration "roundups."
"[Arpaio] has done a lot in the fight against illegal immigration," Trump told Fox News from where he is vacationing in Bedminster, New Jersey. "He's a great American patriot and I hate to see what has happened to him."
Arpaio, 85, is expected to be sentenced in October, and while he could theoretically face up to six months in jail, "some attorneys doubt he will receive any jail time," Fox News reports.
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Arpaio argued to the court that his violation of the federal order was unintentional even as U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton claimed "the evidence at trial proves beyond a reasonable doubt … that [the] defendant knew of the order; and that defendant willfully violated the order by failing to do anything to ensure his subordinates' compliance and by directing them to continue to detain persons for whom no criminal charges could be filed."
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