Ex-Sheriff David Clarke’s master’s thesis back in the news
CNN reported on Sept. 15, 2017 that former Milwaukee County Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr., now a spokesman for a pro-Donald Trump super PAC, must revise his master’s thesis or risk losing his degree in security studies from the Naval Postgraduate School.
The California school determined the thesis was “in violation” of the school’s honor code, but that Clarke’s violation “was not a result of any intentional deception or misappropriation efforts.”
The case revolved around whether the conservative firebrand committed plagiarism.
In May 2017, after a CNN report first raised the question, Clarke speculated that the “hit job” could derail what he said would be his appointment to a Department of Homeland Security post in Trump’s administration.
But on Sept. 14, 2017, the day before CNN’s latest story about his thesis, Clarke said he had been offered the job and turned it down. That, as the New York Daily News said in reporting on Clarke’s comments, contradicted reports that former homeland security secretary and now White House Chief of Staff John Kelly blocked him from getting a job.
All of which brings us back to the original question.
PolitiFact Wisconsin did a review after CNN first revealed the matter.
We found that while Clarke extensively footnoted his thesis, the 47 instances CNN found of Clarke’s failure to use quotation marks amount to more than his characterization of “a formatting error.”
Our Sources
PolitiFact Wisconsin items as noted
CNN, "Former Sheriff David Clarke must revise thesis or risk losing degree, docs reveal," Sept. 15, 2017
