WASHINGTON _ President Donald Trump, facing another tough patch in his presidency, will hold his first campaign rally in the West next week, announcing Wednesday that he will travel to Arizona.
The rally could provide a place for Trump to announce a pardon for Joe Arpaio, the former Arizona county sheriff and Trump campaign supporter who was recently convicted of having defied a judge's order to stop racial profiling of Latinos when he was in office.
Trump told a Fox News contributor this week that he was considering a pardon, which would be broadly controversial but potentially excite some of his core supporters.
The trip west is a departure for Trump, who has previously stuck mostly to Ohio, West Virginia and other areas with traditional white, blue-collar voters for such events. He has seldom traveled west of the Mississippi since becoming president.
Prior presidents have not held campaign rallies so early in their terms. But Trump is energized by his crowds and has relished the opportunity to go off-script amid supporters.
His campaign announced that next week's rally will take place Tuesday night in Phoenix.
Trump's standing in polls has declined significantly, but his core supporters have shown the most loyalty.
He caused a major furor Tuesday in comments that blamed both sides for last weekend's racial violence in Charlottesville, Va., getting rebukes from Republican lawmakers as well as Democrats.
