Joe Arpaio vows to renew attacks on Obama's birth certificate if elected to Senate

Former Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio is not concerned with your debunking.

Arpaio told a small group of Arizona conservatives last week that he will continue to question the legitimacy of former President Barack Obama's birth certificate. He is "kind of dropping" the claims for now, he said, but will renew focus on the "fake document" if he succeeds in his bid for a Senate seat.

Arpaio, who was convicted of criminal contempt after disregarding a court order to stop racial profiling in his crackdown on illegal immigration, is now running in the Arizona Senate race. President Trump pardoned Arpaio last summer, sparing him a jail sentence for his conviction.

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While working as sheriff, Arpaio launched an investigation into a widely debunked conspiracy theory involving the supposed forgery of Obama's birth certificate. Arpaio's probe apparently concluded back in 2016, but while speaking to supporters at a conference last weekend, he pledged to renew his attacks.

"I don't talk about it anymore, until I become a U.S. senator," said Arpaio, to applause. "I'm kind of dropping that right now, but I'm going to tell you something, 100 percent we proved that's a fake document. One hundred."