Former Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke withdrew his name for a Trump administration job because, as he told Newsmax TV, it was not a "good fit" and would have "buried" him in the bureaucracy.
In an interview on "The Joe Pags Show," Clarke, now a senior adviser and spokesman for the pro-Trump super PAC America First Action, revealed he had been offered a position as assistant secretary of the Office of Public Engagement in the Department of Homeland Security.
"I pulled my name out, and I still have the paper of the job offer," Clarke said. "People are saying I was never offered the job. Yes, I was, but I don't care about what they say."
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Clarke added he felt "as time went on" in a government post, "I was going to be buried in a bureaucracy, buried in paperwork, and I wanted to be out front."
"I wanted to be a messenger, I wanted to be a voice," he said. "I have a lot of name recognition, I have a lot of credibility, and I wanted to help this president. When I saw what was going on after he was sworn in on Jan. 20 . . . I knew this was going to be a fight, and I didn't want to be toward the back not being able to help."
He said that led him to a conclude, "this is not going to be a good fit."
"I had a conversation with President Trump before making that decision," he revealed. "I said, 'Mr. President, I don't know if that's going to be a good fit. Here's how I want to help you – I want to do it from a different position.' And you know what? He agreed. So, he said, 'We're going to find you a different position.'"
Working with America First Action will have "fewer restrictions," Clarke said.
"Your hands are not as tied in terms of when you're a spokesperson outside – you can say things kind of in the fashion, and you know I don't sugarcoat stuff," he said. "I say what I feel, I say things the way they are in my view . . . I'm going to have more flexibility doing it from the outside, but this is an integral part of helping Donald Trump and his administration."
One of his tasks in the super PAC will be holding GOP lawmakers' "feet to the fire," Clarke said.
"Every GOP lawmaker in the last election cycle ran on an issue of repeal and replace Obamacare," he said. "They didn't do it. People are tired of that. So, this is a thing that we'll be doing as well, supporting people for Capitol Hill, for Congress, who are going to get behind this agenda because that's what they're going to run on. . . . If they run on it, and we're going to hold their feet to the fire and make them keep their word."
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