Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio was a guest on Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report” on Monday, where he faced the full faux-conservative treatment. Host Stephen Colbert talked circles around the 76-year-old sheriff, and tried to get Arpaio to respond to the news that a pair of Arizona reporters had just won a Pulitzer Prize for an investigation of his office. Arpaio largely dodged the question, but called the five-part, six-month investigation “a cop out…because they don’t want me to enforce the immigration laws.”
The investigation, published last July in the East Valley Tribune, revealed the sheriff’s office neglected its duties to investigate a number of violent crimes, even as it poured huge resources into local immigration efforts. Arpaio’s office is currently under investigation by the U.S. Justice Department on suspicion of civil rights violations relating to the immigration busts.
Watch the video for yourself above.