i m pleased to inform you that i ve just granted a full pardon to 85-year-old american patriot sheriff joe arpaio. he kept arizona safe. immigration hard-liners, obviously, are rejoicing over that decision. arpaio himself, obviously, appreciative. he tweeted back: thank you@realdonaldtrump for seeing my conviction for what it is, a political witch hunt by holdover toes in the obama justice department. while opponents of the president s immigration policy say it is another divisive move, dan balz writing in the washington post today: in pardoning arpaio, the president has again linked himself to the most extreme elements of the immigration debate. but it is not just liberals who are upset over this. a spokesman for house speaker paul ryan writing, quote: the speaker does not agree with this decision. law enforcement officials have a special responsibility to respect the rights of everyone in the united states. we shouldn t allow anyone to believe that that responsibility is diminished
we re continuing to follow breaking news, this may lay that ensued during a white supremacist rally in charlottesville, clashes in the streets. several people are injured. you can imagine many will be arrested following this ugly display. and we are now getting responses from lawmakers. i want to pull up a defetweet f paul ryan writing, quote, the views fueling the spectacle in charlottesville are repugnant, let it only serve to unite americans against this kind of vile bigotry. the question that we have been posing this afternoon is where is the president s response to these events. let s bring in dan merica in