joe arpaio
Walter Shaub called the president's action "vile" and decried the former Arizona sheriff as a "racist."
The self-declared "law and order" president backs a man who defied a court order.
But the disgraced sheriff says if offered, he won't say no.
He diminished the seriousness of Sheriff Arpaio’s criminal offense at the Phoenix rally.
WHAT'S HAPPENING
Trump and Arpaio were major players in the Obama birther movement.
“There will be no discussion of that today."
President Trump teased a pardon for ex-sheriff Joe Arpaio at his campaign-style rally in Phoenix on Tuesday night. Arpaio was convicted on charges of criminal contempt in July.
After an explosive week, the president is returning to the divisive issue he knows best.
Arpaio "personifies the same bigotry and intolerance we witnessed in Charlottesville," said one civil rights advocate.