Rep. Cummings: Trump Promoting 'Textbook Racism' With Arpaio Pardon

President Donald Trump was promoting "textbook racism" with his decision to pardon former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio from charges of criminal contempt, Rep. Elijah Cummings said Saturday on Twitter while invoking comments Speaker Paul Ryan made about Trump as a candidate last summer.

In a series of four tweets, the Maryland Democrat and civil rights icon wrote: 

#POTUS claims that he wants to unite the country and fight against racism, yet his own words and actions show the opposite. https://t.co/Dkr1Vrnp67

— Elijah E. Cummings (@RepCummings) August 26, 2017

He has now followed up his abhorrent statements about #Charlottesville by pardoning a racist cop for his crimes against minorities.

— Elijah E. Cummings (@RepCummings) August 26, 2017

Over & over again, #POTUS has promoted what @SpeakerRyan once called ‘textbook racism’ while exhibiting contempt for the rule of law.

— Elijah E. Cummings (@RepCummings) August 26, 2017

President Trump is sending a message with these words and his actions, and it is one of hate and divisiveness rather than hope and unity.

— Elijah E. Cummings (@RepCummings) August 26, 2017

Last year, during the presidential campaign, Ryan sharply criticized Trump's criticism of a federal judge over his ethnicity as the "textbook definition of racist comments."

Trump had claimed that U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel's Mexican heritage meant that he would not be able to ensure that Trump, with his call for a border wall with Mexico, would receive a fair trial in the Trump University fraud case.

Arpaio had been facing jail time for continuing to target Latinos for arrest, in contempt of a court order, until Trump's pardon on Friday.

• McCain on Arpaio Pardon: 'No One Is Above the Law'
• Ken Cuccinelli on Pardon: 'A Very Political Act'