Trump says 'massive' cheering crowd proves he was right to pardon Arpaio

President Donald Trump on Monday defended his decision to pardon former Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio by citing applause from one of his rallies -- and then attacked former presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.

Fox News host John Roberts asked during a press conference why he had decided the pardon the controversial sheriff as Hurricane Harvey was bearing down on Texas.

"Well, a lot of people think it was the right thing to do, John, and actually in the middle of a hurricane, even though it was a Friday evening, I assumed the ratings would be far higher than they would be normally. You know the hurricane was just starting and I put it out we were pardoning as we say Sheriff Joe.

"He has done a great job for the people of Arizona. He is very strong on borders, very strong on illegal immigration," Trump replied. "He is loved in Arizona. I thought he was treated unbelievably unfairly."

"When I mentioned him the other night, you saw the massive crowd we had, the people went crazy," the president said. "The place went absolutely crazy when I was in Arizona last week."

Trump then attacked Clinton and Obama for pardoning people who he described as "dangerous criminals."

"Sheriff Joe was very unfairly treated by the Obama administration," Trump added.

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