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Phoenix: Thousands Protest Trump as He Threatens Gov’t Shutdown over Border Wall

HeadlineAug 23, 2017

In Phoenix, Arizona, thousands of people poured into the streets outside the Phoenix Convention Center Tuesday night to protest President Trump’s campaign rally. During his speech, Trump defended his response to the deadly white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. He also spent at least 20 minutes attacking the corporate media and its coverage of his response to last weekend’s events in Charlottesville. Trump read from a printout of remarks he made on three separate occasions, yet omitted that he blamed “both sides” for the violence.

Trump did not pardon notorious Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio on Tuesday as many had expected. But during his speech he did speak highly of the sheriff, who has been convicted of contempt of court for defying a court order to stop his deputies from racial profiling.

President Donald Trump: “By the way, I’m just curious. Do the people in this room like Sheriff Joe? So, was Sheriff Joe convicted for doing his job? That’s what—he should have had a jury. But you know what? I’ll make a prediction: I think he’s going to be just fine. OK? But—but I won’t do it tonight, because I don’t want to cause any controversy. Is that OK? All right?”

Arpaio is a major supporter of Donald Trump whose policies have included racial profiling and detaining immigrants in a scorching outdoor tent city jail, which Arpaio once referred to as his own “concentration camp.” During Trump’s speech, police attacked the thousands of protesters with tear gas and pepper balls. There are also some reports that the police fired rubber-coated steel bullets at the protesters. We’ll go to Phoenix after headlines for more on the protests and Trump’s speech.

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