Joe Arpaio, the controversial former sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona, is considering running for his old position in 2020, he said in an interview released Friday.
“I’m very strongly thinking about it, very strongly considering it,” Mr. Arpaio told ABC News, the network reported. “I’ll decide next month, and I always have a flare [sic] for these sorts of things.”
Mr. Arpaio, 87, served as Maricopa County’s top lawman from 1993 to 2016, when he was voted out of office at the end of his sixth term while facing federal criminal contempt-of-court charges for refusing to follow a judge’s order barring him from detaining people based solely on their immigration status. He was found guilty the following year but was pardoned by President Trump prior to being sentenced.
Mr. Arpaio, a Republican, told ABC News that he recently met privately with Mr. Trump but would not say what was discussed, the network reported.
The former sheriff indicated he could be more inclined to run for office again if Mr. Trump endorses his campaign, however, according to ABC.
“One deciding factor thing would be is Trump and I will be running again together, just like 2016 but now in 2020,” said Mr. Arpaio said, the network reported.
The White House did not immediately return a request for comment.
The contempt conviction handed down to Mr. Arpaio in 2017 stemmed from an earlier ruling which U.S. District Court Judge G. Murray Snow ordered the sheriff to stop detaining individuals based solely on their assumed immigration status. He was convicted of criminal contempt for refusing and had faced a maximum sentence of six months confinement prior to being pardoned by the president.
In announcing the pardon, Mr. Trump praised Mr. Arpaio as an “American patriot” who “kept Arizona safe!”
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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