Rep. Castro: Trump's Pardon of 'Bigot' Arpaio Sends 'Wrong Message'

Democratic Congressman Joaquin Castro on Wednesday said President Donald Trump used the office to "pardon a bigot" in former sheriff Joe Arpaio.

The Texas Democrat told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" program that "poor timing" was just one aspect of Trump's pardon of the former Arizona lawman.

"First I think it was very poor timing for the president to do it just as this storm descended upon Texas and started to devastate Texas," Castro told "Morning Joe."

Trump said he did it a few hours before Hurricane Harvey made landfall in Texas because he "assumed the ratings would be far higher."

"But on the pardon itself, I said last week that the president used the office to pardon a bigot, someone who openly racially profiled Hispanics and probably others in the state of Arizona and really seemed to be proud of that," Castro said. "It sends a wrong message that he pardoned somebody that outright disobeyed the judicial branch and ordered him to stop the racial profiling."

Arpaio was convicted of criminal contempt for ignoring repeated rulings from federal courts to cease and desist rounding up illegal immigrants while he was sheriff in Maricopa County.

• Kerik: Arpaio Charges Were Pure Politics – Just Like Criticism of Pardon
• Arpaio Now Wants Judge to Throw Out Conviction