Story highlights "The Speaker does not agree with this decision," Paul Ryan's spokesman says

Since the health care bill repealing Obamacare failed in the Senate, Trump has been blaming Ryan and McConnell for lack of action

Washington (CNN) House Speaker Paul Ryan disagrees with President Donald Trump's decision Friday to pardon Sheriff Joe Arpaio, his spokesman said Saturday.

"The Speaker does not agree with this decision," spokesman Doug Andres said in a statement. "Law enforcement officials have a special responsibility to respect the rights of everyone in the United States. We should not allow anyone to believe that responsibility is diminished by this pardon."

Trump pardoned the former Arizona sheriff Friday night of his conviction last month on charges of criminal contempt for violating a court order in a racial-profiling case. Arpaio was scheduled to be sentenced in October.

Arpaio's lawyer, Jack Wilenchik, told CNN that Ryan was wrong about the pardon, "and this is why when politics tries to mix with the courts, it's very tough. But at the end of the day here, the President did the right thing, because there should have been a jury in this case. We should have had one from day one, and at this point the appeal — in fact the sheriff is an old man, can't forget that, he's 85 years old. And this would be a lot more money and wasted time all around. So I would have rather seen this go to jury in the first place, and get the right verdict. But at this point, we're dealing with a wrongful verdict."

Arpaio, a longtime Trump supporter, was sheriff in Maricopa County, Arizona , until last year, when he lost his reelection bid to Democrat Paul Penzone. He thanked Trump in an interview with CNN affiliate KTVK and KPHO in Phoenix on Saturday.

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