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Tuesday, March 19, 2024 | Back issues
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Former Milwaukee Sheriff Takes Job With Trump Super PAC

Controversial former Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke said Tuesday that he has taken a new job as a senior adviser and spokesperson for the pro-Trump super PAC America First Action.

MILWAUKEE (CN) – Controversial former Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke said Tuesday that he has taken a new job as a senior adviser and spokesperson for the pro-Trump super PAC America First Action.

“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. “It gives me a chance to do what I love most – promote President Trump’s agenda, including his fierce support of 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 resigned as Milwaukee County sheriff last week in a one-sentence letter to the county clerk that did not specify a reason for his departure, more than a year before his term was set to end.

He was serving his fourth term as sheriff and had served over two decades before that with the Milwaukee Police Department.

The controversial former sheriff has been under fire in a slew of lawsuits filed against him over his management of the Milwaukee County jail, where four inmates have died since last year. He was sued in March over a man who died of thirst in solitary confinement and was hit with another lawsuit that same month from a woman who claims she was shackled while giving birth in the jail.

Before that, he was sued last December over a baby who died just hours after being born in the jail.

America First Action did not immediately respond to an email request for comment Wednesday.

But Brian O. Walsh, president of the pro-Trump super PAC, said in a statement Tuesday that Clarke “is an American patriot, and we are very proud to welcome him to America First.”

“Having spent a lifetime in law enforcement—protecting and serving his community and fighting for justice and the Second Amendment—Sheriff Clarke doesn’t just believe in making America safe again; he’s devoted his life to it,” Walsh said.

Earlier this year in May, Clarke announced he was considering taking a job with the Department of Homeland Security but later formally withdrew himself from consideration. The DHS never confirmed the job offer.

He also recently published a memoir called “Cop Under Fire,” which President Donald Trump praised on Twitter last week.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, a Republican, will appoint an interim sheriff to serve the remainder of Clarke’s term through 2018.

Follow @EmilyZantowNews
Categories / National, Politics

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