Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke says government officials from the White House on down to local leaders "stoked the flames of racial discord" with their comments about the turmoil in Ferguson, Missouri.
"You can poke at the media … [saying they] did some things that were questionable. That's true, but you know what? This also came from some of the political leadership as well," Clarke said Monday on "The Steve Malzberg Show" on
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"That may have fueled the media even more because as you know race is an explosive issue in this country. It always has been and it always will be.
"But instead of stoking those flames of racial discord, people like President Obama, Attorney General Eric Holder and Gov. Jay Nixon of Missouri and Sen. Claire McCaskill and others.... I expect them to behave differently regardless of what the media is doing. Some of the stuff that was said was actually stoking the flames of racial discord."
Clark was particularly critical of Holder, who he said is guilty of "shameful conduct" in talking about the shooting of black teen Michael Brown by white Police Officer Darren Wilson.
"He's supposed to try to remain neutral and not take sides and keep his powder dry when some of these things are going on, especially where he might play a role later on in making a determination as to whether or not something more is warranted," Clarke said.
"As far as I'm concerned, he's already telegraphed where he's at. He's already made his decision that Officer Darren Wilson was wrong and that he may have committed a crime."
Clarke said the evidence was still being investigated by a grand jury when Holder made incendiary statements about law enforcement and race.
"For him to feed off the emotion that was going on at the time was shameful conduct coming from somebody of his position," Clarke said.
"That's one thing when you hear some goof like Al Sharpton go off half-cocked and some of these other clowns. That's expected from people in those roles, but not from the attorney general."
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