The Latest: DHS declines to confirm Clarke appointment
By Associated Press
May 17, 2017 4:31 PM CDT
FILE - In this July 18, 2016 file photo, Milwaukee County, Wis. Sheriff David Clarke speaks at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland. Clarke says he's taken a job as an assistant secretary in the Homeland Security Department. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)   (Associated Press)

MILWAUKEE (AP) — The Latest on Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke announcing he is moving to the Department of Homeland Security (all times local):

4:30 p.m.

The Department of Homeland Security has declined to confirm that Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke will be joining the agency.

Clarke said in an interview on WISN-AM on Wednesday that he had taken a job as assistant secretary and would start in June. Clarke says he would be serving as a liaison to state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies.

DHS spokeswoman Jenny Burke says those appointments are made by the Homeland Security secretary and are announced only when they've been made official. Burke says the department has no such announcement about Clarke.

Clarke has become a conservative darling through his provocative social media presence and was a strong supporter of Donald Trump during the presidential campaign.

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3:13 p.m.

Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke says he's taken a job as an assistant secretary in the Department of Homeland Security.

The conservative firebrand told WISN-AM talk radio host Vicki McKenna on Wednesday that he will work in the Office of Partnership and Engagement as a liaison to state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies. He says he will start in June.

A DHS spokesman didn't immediately reply to a phone message and email.

Clarke has become a conservative darling through his provocative social media presence and was a strong supporter of Donald Trump during the presidential campaign.

The appointment comes just two weeks after an inquest into the dehydration death of an inmate at the Milwaukee County Jail recommended criminal charges against as many as seven staffers. Clarke wasn't among them.