Trump considering Clarke for post

Role with Homeland Security in the works, report says

Officials in President Donald Trump’s administration are considering Milwaukee County Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr. for a job with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Clarke is to be appointed as assistant secretary at the department’s Office of Partnership and Engagement, where he would coordinate outreach to state and local law enforcement agencies, Politico, an online news company, reported Friday.

The position of assistant secretary does not require Senate confirmation.

On Friday, sources confirmed that news of the possible appointment is coming out now because Trump officials recently completed their background check of the sheriff. Trump staffers are a few steps away from making the appointment. One source said it could take more than a month to finish the process.

“It wouldn’t be for a while,” the source said. “Nothing’s imminent.”

Clarke has said in the past that it would be hard to turn down the president if he asks the sheriff to join the administration.

Sources close to the sheriff have said for months that Trump officials have been interested in appointing Clarke to serve as the administration’s liaison to the law enforcement community. Those sources said if Clarke landed such a job, he would speak out on police-related matters.

On Friday, Clarke was in Atlanta speaking at a leadership conference for the National Rifle Association, a group that helped him win re-election in 2014. He did not respond immediately to requests for comment.

In his speech Friday, Clarke told the gun-rights activists: “You see, our fight for freedom continues in earnest,” according to a report on The Washington Times website. “You see, these rat bastards on the left never give up.”

“Election defeats don’t matter to them,” he said, they will continue “their assault on our Constitution, the rule of law, liberty and American exceptionalism.”

Clarke, who campaigned across the country for Trump, was passed over for the cabinet-level job of heading the Department of Homeland Security. Trump picked retired Marine Gen. John F. Kelly to lead the agency.

The Department of Homeland Security was created in the wake of 9/11.

The department’s duties range from counterterrorism to enforcing immigration laws.