presidential pardons the only genuine
get-out-of-jail-free card
pardons are one of the most powerful
tools available to a president and they
have been used controversially in the
past Bill Clinton pardoned mark rich
Gerald Ford pardoned Richard Nixon and
as we've mentioned before Abraham
Lincoln once pardoned a man for
attempted best eality that is true and
in fairness this was the horse that's a
pretty horse right there I'm
not saying that you should it I'm
just saying I wouldn't kick it out of
bed for eating apples the point here is
while we were away Donald Trump issued
his very first pardon and it was a doozy
a legal lightning bolt from President
Trump late Friday a presidential pardon
for Arizona's controversial anti-illegal
immigration hardliner Sheriff Joe Arpaio
that's right Donald Trump pardons Joe
Arpaio a man who answers the question
what if it decaying russet potato
somehow hated Mexicans but but let's
look at that decision because if the
President of the United States is going
to use his very first pardon on someone
this early in his term it really is
worth knowing exactly who Joe Arpaio is
and what the implications of this
decision may be and you probably may
have heard of Joe Arpaio before he is
carefully cultivated an image over 25
years as a hard-nosed sheriff with
unconventional methods that the media
has lapped up jorpe IO is known as
America's toughest sheriff the sheriff
arpaio who's been dubbed America's
toughest Sheriff America's toughest
Sheriff Joe Arpaio he's known as
America's toughest sheriff for his
crackdowns on illegal immigration and
petty crime he brags about making
prisoners eating bologna sandwiches so
rotten the meat has turned green he
makes his inmates wear pink he uses
chain gangs inmates are forced to wear
striped prison garb and pink underwear
well that is just awful the pink
underwear is fine but no one should be
forced to wear horizontal stripes they
widened the silhouettes that is a fact
that's a fashion fact now Apollo really
didn't mind that coverage he actually
welcomed it because he loves being on
camera
so much that he essentially spent years
treating prisoners as props for a
reality show and sometime
literally he actually had a short-lived
show called smile you're under arrest
where people with outstanding warrants
would be tricked into appearing on a set
only to be pranked in the worst way
possible oh I got one more surprise
these two people are actually deputies
of Sheriff Joe Arpaio's office so dude
you got a smile cuz you're under arrest
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whoo there is wait wait
hoop there it is now for the record even
then that reference was 15 years old
which is a real wickety-wack thing to do
door I'm not tricking people into a rest
for your own amusement is a terrible
idea for a reality show
the only worst idea is not making Peter
the bachelor look at that face are you
idiots
let me just say this Peter if you are
out there you are and shall forever
remain my bachelor hashtag Peter is my
bachelor hashtag he's a catcher now a
fire will honestly do anything for a
camera and if you don't believe me watch
him seeing his favorite song which of
course is Frank Sinatra's my way the
universal anthem of everywhere
what him sing it's for a documentary
film crew
[Music]
here's something interesting there when
Frank Sinatra heard that he actually
climbed out of his grave walked four
hundred miles to our pyo's house rang
the doorbell and simply said no but what
does doing it are pyo's way actually
mean because Trump didn't just pardon
him he touted Arpaio support on the
campaign trail even having him speak at
the Republican convention so Trump
clearly doesn't seem to have any real
problem with our pyo's way and for the
record it is far more than just the eye
catching circus that you've seen so far
and many people were effective
Maricopa County where he was the sheriff
until just last year contains over 4
million people that's a higher
population than that of 24 states and
conditions in his tent city weren't just
eccentric they were appalling
temperatures their could rise as high as
a hundred and forty five degrees
food was limited to two meals a day and
then there was this Chinese law
enforcement officials drop in for some
tips from Joe who just brushed up on his
Mandarin I hear China very tough on
criminal correct I'm asking them in
China yes do they put women on a chain
gang thank you I am still the first in
the world yes oh boy oh actually put
women on chain gang so I guess hashtag
feminism
it's a gray area and look remember our
pyro operates jails not prisons and
jails are typically for people serving
sentences of less than a year or even
just awaiting trial which is not to say
that anyone should be subjected to some
of our pyo's treatment at one point he
actually installed webcams in the jail
one of which showed female inmates using
the toilet which wound up being linked
to by pornographic sites and while the
cameras were eventually pulled the
Sheriff's Office defended themselves
with their lawyers saying they did not
show the private parts of any inmates
and no juveniles would have been
displayed unless they look older and lie
to us and just spare a thought there for
the attorney who went all the way
through years of law school only to have
to tell a reporter don't worry the women
we broadcast taking a were probably
all adults and Arpaio seems routinely
impervious to criticism of any of his
tactics I have not received many
negative comments other than the Justice
Department or embassy international or
the Civil Liberties unit yes Joe but
those are the three key groups who might
criticize you over mistreating prisoners
so you just went three for three on that
one you're not going to get complaints
from Carl's jr. at the Girl Scouts and
Hootie and the Blowfish
that's not what those groups do so is it
frankly any wonder that when a reporter
asked inmates whether Arpaio had any
nicknames one responded Hitler while
another responded Hitler that is a
charge that he's defended with his help
against by saying my daughter has
adopted children of various ethnicities
I got a black a Mexican with Down
syndrome even and yet I'm the racist
I'm the fascist I'm the Hitler and look
I'm not gonna argue with him on that one
that is just sound logic right there
that is why when you play the board game
guess who's the Hitler the first things
you ask to narrow it down are do their
daughter got a black and do their
daughter got a Mexican with Down
syndrome even because if their daughter
got those they can't be the Hitler it's
right there in the rule
and look our prime sales were just tough
and humiliating they were sometimes
deadly over the years the county has
paid out multiple large settlements to
families of inmates who've died
following incidents in his facilities
including over eight million dollars to
the family of Scott norburg who died in
custody after being restrained shot and
beaten by guards and when one officer
tried to warn two other guards that the
inmate was in dire trouble their
response was chilling I told him that he
was turning blue I didn't need no purple
I don't think it was breathing and he
said I'd who gives a after Speidel
responded to you who gives a and he
warned officer gurney what did mr.
gurney say they said who gives a
look you can't see someone dying and say
who gives a you can't even see some
thing dying and say that with of course
the sole exception of orchids because
really who gives a that they're
high maintenance little flower and
they all deserve to die now now now I
should tell you the Justice Department
declined to prosecute that case in both
our pile and the officers insisted they
did nothing wrong in fact our pile was
so unapologetic that both officer who
gives a and officer who gives a
were later promoted presumably to
lieutenant whatever our soul and
sergeant zero given and that
promotion the problem is that promotion
sends a pretty clear message to arpaio
staff almost as clear a message as a
president pardoning the man who oversaw
all of this and remember a pile wasn't
just in charge of jails he was also a
law enforcement officer though his
respect for the law seemed awfully
selective now over the years his office
repeatedly launched criminal cases
against his perceived enemies be they
County officials or even judges some of
which were so shockingly flimsy they
were dismissed or thrown outs one civil
suit that he brought turned out to be so
baseless it was actually cited in the
disbarment of the attorney who brought
it with a member of the despondent panel
saying it was nothing short of fumbling
with the law like children wielding a
buzzing chainsaw
which is not only an amazing statement
it's also actually my favorite Precious
Moments figurine and for America's
toughest sheriff arpaio seem to let
certain crimes fall through the cracks
in 2011 it came out that his department
had failed to properly investigate more
than 400 sex crimes some of which
involve children and while our pile
eventually admitted to that his apology
left a lot to be desired if there were
any victims out there I apologize to
those victims if there were any hold on
if there were any there were we know
that that is a casual indifference to
overlooking sex crimes so egregious I'm
genuinely surprised that Penn State's
hasn't erected a statue of him and
amazingly here's the amazing thing none
of what you have just seen not the
conditions not the deaths not the
baseless charges against his critics has
anything to do with why he was convicted
and needed a pardon that stems from
racial profiling which his department
has been repeatedly accused of over the
years and one huge investigation made
some really troubling allegations a
three year investigation by the Justice
Department found what it called
unconstitutional policing and the
pervasive culture of discriminatory bias
against Latinos who are up to nine times
more likely than whites to be stopped by
America account II deputy in one
incident cited in the federal report a
Hispanic driver was incarcerated for 13
days before his citation was dismissed
for not using his turn signal think
about that 13 days for a turn signal
infraction and that is in Arizona where
an old person driving with their turn
signal on is literally their state seal
and not surprisingly in 2011 a lawsuit
alleging his department had a pattern of
racial profiling resulted in this a
federal court in Phoenix has decided
Arizona authorities cannot arrest people
suspected of being a legal immigrant
solely because of their appearance
if Arpaio does not comply with the court
ruling no pile could ultimately be held
in contempt of court and face jail time
you'll never guess what happened
our piyo did not comply with that court
ruling in fact over the next 18 months
his office detained at least 171 people
without charge and turn them over to
immigration enforcement and last July
a federal judge found Arpaio guilty of
criminal contempt and at that point he
was a criminal he had committed and was
convicted of a crime you know the thing
that the people he puts in tents and
pink underwear had done and which he
felt meant that they had forfeited any
right to complain he had done that and
he hadn't even been sentenced before
Trump started hinting at a pardon for a
frankly incredible reason was Sheriff
Joe convicted for doing his job that's
what you know what I'll make a
prediction I think he's gonna be just
fine okay but here's the thing there he
absolutely was not just doing his job
he was also doing something illegal you
wouldn't say that John Wayne Gacy was
just doing his job
even though he was by all accounts a
pretty good birthday clown it's the
stuff he was doing on top of that that
needed addressing and yet and yet I do
not doubt that Trump thinks that
everything Joe Arpaio did was or should
be part of a law enforcement officers
job and that is the real problem here
that is why this pardon is a slap in the
face to Latinos that Arpaio and his
department unconstitutionally targeted
and that is why it's a slap in the face
to the very rule of law itself because a
pile broke the rules he was sworn to
uphold rules that are put in place to
protect citizens from a government going
out of control and Trump giving him a
pass after everything that you have seen
tonight and saying he was just doing his
job is a loud confirmation that at least
as far as this
White House is concerned for the next
few years law enforcement won't
necessarily be expected to do their jobs
the way the Constitution or the courts
say they should instead like Sheriff Joe
Arpaio they should absolutely feel free
to do their job what's the term
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