Trump adviser: ‘Not too many people care about’ Arpaio right now

Homeland security adviser Tom Bossert said Sunday he’s not focused on President Trump’s pardon of former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio in the wake of Hurricane Harvey making landfall in Texas.

“I’m right now focused on not only the 4.6 million people in the Houston area, but the millions of people around the country who are trying to bring together outside of these divisive political questions, their efforts and their prayers to help those people who are in need,” Bossert said on ABC’s “This Week.”

“So my guess is that not too many people care about this one guy right now. They care about the millions of guys that are worried about their homes.”

{mosads}Bossert also said he thinks the pardon of Arpaio was “pretty straightforward.”

“Just about every modern president ends up with some controversial pardons,” he said.

“But I think the president’s been pretty clear on it and I certainly don’t think it’s fair to characterize him as not caring about the rule of law.”

Bossert added he’s pretty certain “this is not something that’s going to threaten our constitutional order.”

The White House announced Friday that Trump had pardoned Arpaio, who was convicted of contempt for violating a court order to stop racially profiling Latinos. In a statement, the White House said Arpaio had “continued his life’s work of protecting the public from the scourges of crime and illegal immigration” throughout his time as sheriff in Arizona.

In a separate interview, Bossert pushed back against an accusation from Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), who said Trump pardoned Arpaio on Friday to “use the cover of Hurricane Harvey to avoid scrutiny.”

“He’s clearly wrong,” Bossert said on CBS’s “Face The Nation.”

–This report was updated at 11:03 a.m.