Two weekends ago, Donald Trump did one of his favorite sheriffs, Joe Arpaio, a huge favor. He pardoned former Maricopa County, Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio just before he was due to be sentenced for continuing to profile Latinos despite being told to stop by a federal judge. And he apparently decided to do so before the trial even started.
Well, Trump was hoping to do a favor for the man who replaced Arpaio as America’s most notorious rogue sheriff, David Clarke of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin. On Thursday, Clarke resigned his post after 15 years. On Tuesday afternoon, it was announced that he was taking a post at the pro-Trump super PAC America First. Now it turns out that Trump originally wanted Clarke in his administration. But the irresistible force that is Trump ran into an immovable object–his own chief of staff, John Kelly.
Several White House staffers told The Daily Beast that Clarke had been in the running for a post in the West Wing for much of August. That talk continued as late as last week, with Clarke reportedly being tipped for a communications or outreach post. However, according to one of those staffers, Kelly’s opposition made any plan to put Clarke in the West Wing “a non-starter.”
Kelly has made a concerted effort to clear out fringe and alt-right influence in the White House since taking over as chief of staff on July 31. Almost his first act was to push out communications director Anthony Scaramucci. In the last month, Steve Bannon and Sebastian Gorka have followed Scaramucci out the door, and Omarosa is reportedly the next to go.
So it should come as no surprise that there’s no place for Clarke in this White House. Remember, this is a guy who has no desire to reach out to his opponents unless it’s to grab them by the throat. This is a guy who thinks that the thugs who took over the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge were heroes.
According to MSNBC’s Josh Barro, Clarke’s fate was effectively sealed as early as Sunday.
Didn't we go through this a few months ago? https://t.co/HU9NCd4wM9
— Josh Barro (@jbarro) September 3, 2017
No way John Kelly is hiring David Clarke into the EOP
— Josh Barro (@jbarro) September 3, 2017
Barro was referring to Clarke’s announcement in May that he was stepping down to take a post at the Department of Homeland Security. However, only a month later, he rescinded that announcement.
According to The Daily Beast, it turns out that Kelly, who was Secretary of Homeland Security at the time, would not even consider having Clarke in his department due to concerns about the appalling conditions in the Milwaukee County Jail. This has led to a truckload of lawsuits against Clarke. For example, a woman claims she lost her pregnancy while serving time in Clarke’s jail due to inadequate medical care. Looks like at least one member of Trump’s cabinet had some standards.
It looks like Kelly was on to something. Just last week, he was sued by the family of a man who died after being denied water for a week. Chillingly, that family claims that Clarke was well aware this was happening–and did absolutely nothing. Looks like that even if Clarke had moved to Washington this spring, he would have had a very short stay. Knowing Kelly, the minute this lawsuit was announced, he would have given Clarke the same treatment he gave Gorka–yanking his security clearance over the phone.
Kelly and Trump reportedly have a somewhat frosty relationship, in part because Trump is not used to having a leash on him. But there’s no doubt that Kelly won this round.
(featured image courtesy Clarke’s Twitter)
