President touts (most of his) remarks on Virginia protest, hints at pardon for sheriff

PHOENIX - President Donald Trump threatened to shut down the federal government unless Congress provides funding for his promised border wall. And he signaled that he wants to grant a pardon to former Sheriff Joe Arpaio over his recent conviction in federal court.

His remarks to supporters in Phoenix came after he defended his response to a Charlottesville, Virginia, protest organized by white supremacists that led to the killing of a counter-protester.

Trump told a Phoenix crowd Tuesday that Arpaio is "going to be just fine" as he awaits sentencing on a misdemeanor contempt-of-court conviction stemming from his defiance of the courts.

There had been intense speculation in recent days that the president might issue a pardon for Arpaio, best known for his immigration crackdowns as the top lawman in metropolitan Phoenix. Trump says he "won't do it tonight" because he doesn't want to cause controversy.

Arpaio himself said he wasn't disappointed.

"No, no," Arpaio said earlier in the day. "They just decided not to do it tonight. We'll have to see if and when it occurs in the future."

Arpaio said he wasn't expecting a pardon so soon. "I believe his comments, made a little over a week ago, didn't have any bearing about this rally tonight," Arpaio said.

Arpaio and Trump share similar views on immigration enforcement, and the lawman campaigned for Trump several times during the 2016 race.

Earlier, Trump told the rally crowd that he has a message for "obstructionist" Democrats.

"If we have to close down our government, we're building that wall."

Trump is also accusing Democrats of putting American security at risk for not supporting the proposal.

The wall was one of Trump's most popular campaign vows, prompting frequent rally chants of "Build that wall!" Trump had promised Mexico would pay for the wall, but Mexico has so far refused.

The House has passed a spending bill with funding for the border wall, but it faces an uncertain future in the Senate.

Trump opened his political rally in Phoenix with a call for unity, saying, "What happened in Charlottesville strikes at the core of America and tonight, this entire arena stands united in forceful condemnation of the thugs that perpetrated hatred and violence."

But he quickly trained his ire on the media, shouting that he "openly called for healing unity and love" in the immediate aftermath of Charlottesville and claiming the media had misrepresented him. He read from his three responses to the violence - getting more animated with each one.

Democrats and fellow Republicans had denounced Trump for placing blame for the Charlottesville violence on "both sides," a phrase he left out of his reading of his responses Tuesday night.

Trump spoke after Vice President Mike Pence and others called repeatedly for unity.

Housing Secretary Ben Carson and Dr. Alveda King, the niece of civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr., were among the openers. Franklin Graham, son of the evangelist Billy Graham, led the rally-goers in prayer, saying, "We're divided racially, and we're adrift morally."

Outside the Phoenix convention center, shouting matches and minor scuffles erupted between Trump supporters and protesters gathered near the site of his latest campaign rally.

That culminated in police firing pepper spray at crowds after someone apparently lobbed rocks and bottles at officers after Trump's speech ended.

Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton had asked Trump to delay his political event to allow for more time of national healing after Charlottesville.

Trump had teased a pardon for Arpaio, asking the crowd what they thought of him. Loud cheers erupted. The former Maricopa County sheriff is awaiting sentencing after his conviction in federal court for disobeying court orders to stop his immigration patrols.

"So was Sheriff Joe convicted for doing his job?" Trump asked. "I'll make a prediction: I think he's going to be just fine."

Earlier, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Trump wouldn't discuss or take action on a pardon "at any point today," even though the president had told Fox News he was considering it.

Neither of Arizona's two Republican senators, John McCain and Jeff Flake, appeared with Trump. But in his speech, Trump criticized them without naming names.

Trump said that after his well-received address Monday evening, he was told: "Please, please Mr. President, don't mention any names. So I won't."

Instead, Trump bemoaned that the Senate was only "one vote away" from passing a health care overhaul. McCain, who is undergoing treatment for an aggressive form of brain cancer, voted against a Republican health care bill.

Trump called the other unnamed senator "weak on borders, weak on crime." Trump has lashed out at Flake, a frequent critic, using the same language in the past.

Trump described his own restraint as "very presidential."

Flake, a conservative, has been a frequent target of Trump's wrath. The president tweeted last week: "Great to see that Dr. Kelli Ward is running against Flake Jeff Flake, who is WEAK on borders, crime and a non-factor in Senate. He's toxic!" Flake has been on tour promoting his book that says the Republican Party's embrace of Trump has left conservatism withering.

Ward planned to attend Trump's rally, sparking talk that the president could take the politically extraordinary step of endorsing her from the stage over an incumbent Republican senator. He didn't.

In a modest but telling swipe at Ward and, by extension, at Trump, the Senate Leadership Fund, a political committee closely aligned with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, is spending $10,000 on digital ads that say of her, "Not conservative, just crazy ideas."

Tuesday's events put Trump in more comfortable political territory than in recent days.

He began his Arizona visit with a brief trip to the southern edge of the country.

While touring a Marine Corps base in Yuma that is a hub of operations for the U.S. Border Patrol, Trump inspected a drone and other border equipment on display in a hangar.

Trump shook his head as he was shown a series of everyday objects, such as a fire extinguisher, that had been refashioned to secretly transport drugs across the border. Afterward, he spent about 20 minutes greeting service members in the grueling, 106-degree heat, signing caps with his "Make America Great Again" campaign slogan and posing for selfies on the tarmac just steps from Air Force One.

Upending a campaign vow to end the country's longest war, Trump on Monday announced in a national address a plan to maintain to a U.S. military presence in Afghanistan. Senior U.S. officials said Trump's strategy may involve sending up to 3,900 more troops, with some deployments beginning almost immediately.

Some of Trump's core voters had already been unhappy about the recent ouster of conservative Steve Bannon as White House chief strategist.

Bannon had made it his mission to remind Trump of what his most fervent supporters want from his presidency. Some conservative strategists have openly worried that without Bannon around, Trump will be too influenced by establishment Republicans on issues such as Afghanistan policy.