President Donald Trump has the authority to pardon former Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio, but "this is really quite shocking," former Bush 43 ethics adviser Richard Painter said Friday.
"Ninety-nine percent of police officers are great police officers," Painter, now a law professor at the University of Minnesota, told John Berman on CNN. "Ninety-nine percent of sheriffs.
"They put their lines on the line every day for us. You have a very small number of cops or bad cops.
"Sheriff Joe is one of the worst," Painter said. "Systematically discriminating against racial minorities.
"That's the kind of thing that stirs up a lot of anti-police sentiment that we have going on in various parts of the country."
Painter added that Arpaio, 85, was found in federal criminal contempt because "he disobeyed the order of a court.
"This is a country where we have a rule of law. This is not a Democrat or Republican issue.
"I've been a Republican for a number of years. The president has to do it.
"Contempt of court is a crime," he said. "The president of the United States should not be giving out a pardon to a lawless sheriff who conducted himself this way.
"It's really quite shocking.
"This is an attempt to appeal to a very small percentage of the American people who favor racial discrimination, discrimination against blacks and Mexicans and others," Painter told Berman. "That's not the Republican party of today.
"That's not America," he added. "I'm troubled by this.
"A very, very bad decision by the president."
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