Sheriff Joe Arpaio announced today that he filed a federal defamation lawsuit against Vice President Kamala Harris and President Joe Biden over a series of alleged defamatory statements that Arpaio says smeared both he and President Trump. In an exclusive confirmation, Arpaio told the Arizona Globe that the rhetoric against them is calculated to interfere with the election.

The lawsuit alleges one such example, when, on June 6, 2024, the Biden campaign’s Twitter account, @BidenHQ (at the time of this article, Biden’s X account is non-functioning) posted a video with the Spanish caption, translated by Google Translate, describing Sheriff Arpaio as a “convicted felon” pardoned by Trump for racially profiling and abusing immigrants. The caption accompanied a video of Trump introducing Arpaio at a campaign event. The post was widely republished by anti-Trump accounts, including “Republicans against Trump” and “Republican Voters Against Trump,” who repeated the defamatory claim.

Larry Klayman, the founder of Judicial Watch and a former prosecutor, commented on the most recent situation in a detailed letter: “During President Trump’s rally at Prescott Valley, Arizona, President Trump recognized and mentioned Sheriff Arpaio several times, giving him accolades for his work. Predictably and shortly thereafter, Kamala Harris and her leftist pro-illegal immigrant staff attacked Arpaio.”

Klayman continued, “Given the close relationship between Sheriff Arpaio and President Trump, this and previous defamatory attacks by both Harris and Biden were intended not just to harm Trump’s candidacy for the presidency, but to incite violence against them.”

He also stated, “This dangerous rhetoric has already likely caused two assassination attempts against President Trump. In the past, Arpaio has also been targeted many times by the Mexican cartels.” He added, “My client is a decent and good man, not a convicted felon. His efforts were at the forefront of securing the Southern border from drug traffickers selling fentanyl and other hard narcotics, sex traffickers, Mexican gangs, and terrorists, preventing them from entering our country.”

Klayman went on to criticize the Biden-Harris administration: “What is also despicable and tragic is that Harris and Biden don’t care that their defamatory rhetoric is likely to cause more violence against both the Sheriff and his hero President Trump.”

Finally, he emphasized the lawsuit: “With the filing of this defamation lawsuit, Harris and Biden will be forced to legally answer for their actions.”

You can read the lawsuit here.