Milwaukee Sheriff David Clarke resigns 4 months after announcing promotion
Published September 1, 2017
(JTA) — Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke resigned his post four months after announcing he would joined the Department of Homeland Security.
Clarke, whom the Anti-Defamation League in May said “should not be given this type of leadership role” because of his record of controversial statements and alleged ties to anti-government groups, announced his resignation as country sheriff Thursday.
“I have chosen to retire to pursue other opportunities,” Clarke, who is leaving office with more than a year remaining in his term, said in a statement, according to the New York Times. “I will have news about my next steps in the very near future.”
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Clarke is known for using vitriolic rhetoric in speaking about political adversaries on the left, as well as speech evoking violent situations.
An African-American advocate of gun ownership, Clarke has condemned the Black Lives Matter protest movement as “black scum,” claiming its activists were forming an alliance with the Islamic State terrorist group to destroy America.
He also has said he would “grab Democrats by the throat” and he called demonstrators against police brutality “vultures on a roadside carcass.”
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Joining other groups opposed to Clarke receiving a role in federal government, the Anti-Defamation League warned in a statement in May that his reported consideration for a senior post at is “shameful” and “dangerous.”
“An individual representing such extremist ideologies should not be given this type of leadership role and we urge the Trump administration not to go forward with this appointment,” Jonathan Greenblatt, ADL’s national director, said in a statement then.
According to ADL, Clarke has ties with the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association and the Oath Keepers – a group that ADL described as “an anti-government right-wing fringe organization” that promotes conspiracy theories.
Homeland Security officials and the White House did not confirm that such a position had indeed been offered to Clarke.
