PHOENIX — Holding a political rally in Phoenix on Tuesday night, President Trump slammed Arizona’s Republican senators — while coyly refusing to use their names — and hinted strongly that he will pardon Joe Arpaio.
Trump teased a pardon for former Sheriff Arpaio, asking the crowd what they thought of him. Loud cheers erupted. The former Maricopa County sheriff is awaiting sentencing after his conviction in federal court for disobeying court orders to stop his immigration patrols.
“So was Sheriff Joe convicted for doing his job?” Trump asked. “I’ll make a prediction: I think he’s going to be just fine.”
Earlier, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Trump wouldn’t discuss or take action on a pardon “at any point” during his Arizona trip Tuesday, even though the president had told Fox News he was considering it.
Trump said at the rally that the only reason he wouldn’t make a move from the stage was to avoid controversy for the moment.
Surrounded by his most fervent fans, Trump often resurrects his freewheeling 2016 campaign style, pinging insults at perceived enemies such as the media and meandering from topic to topic without a clear theme. Although Trump’s high-profile warm-up acts suggested the president’s speech would be about unity, the president was more intent on settling scores.
Neither of Arizona’s two Republican senators appeared with Trump.
Republican Sen. Jeff Flake, a conservative, has been a frequent target of Trump’s wrath.
The president tweeted last week: “Great to see that Dr. Kelli Ward is running against Flake, who is WEAK on borders, crime and a non-factor in Senate. He’s toxic!” Flake has been on tour promoting his book that says the Republican Party’s embrace of Trump has left conservatism withering.
Ward attended Trump’s rally but did not appear onstage.
In a modest but telling swipe at Ward and, by extension, at Trump, the Senate Leadership Fund, a political committee closely aligned with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, is spending $10,000 on digital ads that say of her, “Not conservative, just crazy ideas.”
Arizona’s other senator, John McCain, is undergoing treatment for an aggressive form of brain cancer. Trump has been critical of McCain for voting against a Republican health-care bill.
Trump went after both Flake and McCain on Tuesday — but refused to mention their names.
Instead, he bemoaned that the Senate was only “one vote away” from passing a health-care overhaul. Then he called out another unnamed senator with the “weak on borders, weak on crime” language he has used against Flake.
Trump described his own restraint as “very presidential.”
The president threatened to shut down the federal government unless Congress provides funding for his promised border wall.
He told the crowd that he had a message for “obstructionist” Democrats: “If we have to close down our government, we’re building that wall.”
The House has passed a spending bill with funding for the border wall, but it faces an uncertain future in the Senate.
Trump also said he thinks the U.S. will “end up probably terminating” the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico “at some point.”
“Personally, I don’t think we can make a deal because we have been so badly taken advantage of,” he said, but added he has yet to make up his mind.
The U.S., Mexico and Canada began formal negotiations last week to rework the 23-year-old pact, which eliminated most barriers on trade between the countries.
Repeatedly during his speech, Trump blamed the media for the widespread condemnation of his response to a Charlottesville, Virginia, protest organized by white supremacists that led to the killing of a counterprotester.
Trump opened with a call for unity, saying, “What happened in Charlottesville strikes at the core of America and tonight, this entire arena stands united in forceful condemnation of the thugs that perpetrated hatred and violence.”
But he quickly trained his ire on the media, shouting that he “openly called for healing unity and love” in the immediate aftermath of Charlottesville and claiming the media had misrepresented him. He read from his three responses to the violence — getting more animated with each one.
Democrats and fellow Republicans had denounced Trump for placing blame for the Charlottesville violence on “both sides.”
Trump spoke after Vice President Mike Pence and others called repeatedly for unity.
Housing Secretary Ben Carson and Dr. Alveda King, the niece of civil-rights activist Martin Luther King Jr., were among the openers. Franklin Graham, son of the evangelist Billy Graham, led the rally-goers in prayer, saying, “We’re divided racially, and we’re adrift morally.”
Outside the Phoenix Convention Center, shouting matches and minor scuffles erupted between Trump supporters and protesters gathered near the site of his latest campaign rally.
Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton had asked Trump to delay his political event to allow for more time of national healing after Charlottesville.
