President Donald Trump on Monday defended his pardon of former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, and said he announced the pardon on Friday night because he knew the TV ratings would be higher due to Hurricane Harvey. “I assumed the ratings would be far higher than they would be normally,” Trump said in a Monday press conference. “You know, the hurricane was just starting.” Trump then read from a list of other presidents' controversial pardons, mentioning former President Barack Obama's commutation of Chelsea Manning.
