The Department of Homeland Security says controversial Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke is no longer a candidate for a position in the agency and will not be heading to Washington to join the Trump administration.
“Late Friday, Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke Jr. formally notified Secretary of Homeland Security John F. Kelly that he had rescinded his acceptance of the agency’s offer to join DHS as an assistant secretary,” a Clarke adviser Craig Peterson said in a statement. “Sheriff Clarke is 100 percent committed to the success of President Trump and believes his skills could be better utilized to promote the president’s agenda in a more aggressive role.”
Clarke, the conservative firebrand and staunch Trump supporter, said last month he was taking a job as an assistant secretary at the DHS as the Assistant Secretary for Office of Partnership and Engagement/State and Local Law Enforcement. However, the agency declined to confirm the appointment, saying it announces such senior appointments once the DHS secretary makes them official.
Recent accusations of plagiarism on portions of his master’s thesis on homeland security and controversies at Clarke’s Milwaukee County Jail – including the brutal death of a mentally ill inmate at a prison – have increased existing opposition to Clarke’s DHS appointment.
