Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke is no longer under consideration for a position in the Department of Homeland Security, a DHS spokesman told CNN.
The spokesman added, “We wish him well.”
Clarke, who was a vocal surrogate for President Donald Trump on the campaign trail, announced in May that he would be joining the administration as an assistant secretary in DHS, serving as a liaison with law enforcement at several levels across the country.
“I am both honored and humbled to be appointed to this position” in the “office of partnership and programs,” Clarke told WISN radio at the time. He said would begin the new role in June.
However, the sheriff’s potential appointment faced numerous problems. A review by CNN’s KFILE found that Clarke plagiarized sections of his 2013 master’s thesis on US security, failing to correctly attribute his sources at least 47 times.
Clarke himself has been the subject of scrutiny for his controversial comments, including calling members of the Black Lives Matter movement “purveyors of hate.” He has also faced backlash for his management of a Milwaukee County Jail, in which an inmate died of dehydration after going a week without water, according to prosecutors.
A representative for Clarke did not return CNN’s request for comment.