President Obama’s former communications director Dan Pfeiffer blasted President Trump over a report that he had asked Attorney General Jeff Sessions to drop the federal criminal case against Sheriff Joe Arpaio, saying if the report is true, Trump could be impeached.
“Asking the attorney general to drop a case against a political ally is the kind of thing people get impeached for,” Pfeiffer tweeted Saturday, news outlets reported.
The Washington Post reported earlier Saturday that Trump had asked Sessions to drop the case against Arpaio, who was a surrogate for Trump on the campaign trail.
Trump decided that he would pardon Arpaio if the sheriff was found guilty in the federal case, after advisers warned him against dropping the charges.
Rights groups, immigration activists, legal experts, politicians, and others swiftly denounced President Donald Trump’s decision to pardon the notorious former sheriff Joe Arpaio, who was awaiting sentencing after being convicted of criminal contempt for violating a court order that mandated he and his deputies stop racially profiling Latinos in Maricopa County, Arizona.
“Trump’s pardon of Arpaio is an official endorsement on racial profiling and the abuse of immigrants and people of color,” said United We Dream executive director Cristina Jimenez. “It is also a slap in the face of the people in Maricopa County who voted a racist, anti-immigrant sheriff out of his job.”
“Instead of a dog whistle, President Trump picked up a bullhorn,” said Vanita Gupta, president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. “This pardon sends a dangerous message that a law enforcement officer who abused his position of power and defied a court order can simply be excused by a president who himself clearly does not respect the law.”
