One of the nation’s most controversial sheriffs left his job to become an adviser and spokesman to a Trump super PAC

David
Clarke.
Spencer Platt/Getty
Images

Former Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke took a job as a
senior adviser and spokesman for America First Action, a
pro-President Donald Trump super PAC, after he resigned from his
job as sheriff last week.

The announcement came after Clarke was shut out from a job within
the Trump administration by new chief of staff John Kelly,
as The New York Times
reported.

“It’s truly an honor to join the America First Action team, most
importantly because we share the same values that most
hard-working, law-abiding Americans do,” Clarke said in a
statement released by America First Action. “It gives me the
chance to do what I love most — promote President Trump’s agenda,
including his fierce support for the American law enforcement
officer, and ensure that the will of the American people who got
President Trump elected is not derailed by the left or the
self-serving Washington establishment.”

Clarke will be appearing on Fox News host Sean Hannity’s program
Tuesday night to discuss his new role, according to the release.

The sheriff gained a national profile during the 2016
presidential campaign through his vociferous support of
Trump. Known for his often
inflammatory rhetoric, the sheriff made countless TV
appearances, particularly on Fox News, to defend and support
Trump. Trump has returned the favor, regularly praising the
sheriff and having him speak at both the 2016 Republican National
Convention and his campaign rallies.

Last week, Trump
promoted Clarke’s book “Cop Under Fire” on
Twitter.

“A great book by a great guy, highly recommended!” Trump wrote.

Clarke was reportedly offered a job in the Department of Homeland
Security earlier this year, though the Trump administration never
formally announced it. Clarke himself told a Wisconsin radio host
during an interview that he had accepted a job, only to later
withdraw his acceptance following a
plagiarism controversy that was uncovered by CNN. The outlet
reported that Clarke failed to properly cite sources in his master’s
thesis.

The polarizing law
enforcement figure’s resignation from his sheriff
job came suddenly and without explanation as to why he
decided to step down from the position he held for 15 years.
Clarke has additionally gained notoriety for his brutal jails, in
which a handful of inmates, including a newborn baby, have died
during the past two years.

Since becoming a
darling of conservative media, Clarke was spending less time
on the day-to-day operations of the sheriff’s office, instead
focusing more on his national profile.

“You do have to come home at least once in a while,” Charlie
Sykes, a retired conservative Wisconsin radio host who’s known
Clarke for roughly 20 years, told Business Insider earlier this
year. “And all you do is speak out on [crime], that’s been the
wrap on him. Big hat, no cattle. Talks a big game but he doesn’t
actually do a lot of stuff.”

After he came out in support of Trump, Sykes said Clarke was
“routinely AWOL.”

“He has to run a law-enforcement department, which has very
specific responsibilities, and a city that has had a really,
really tough year,” Sykes said. “And when he gets involved, it
often has an almost gratuitous, grandstanding sense to it.”

Share and Enjoy