Twitter Suspends Former Sheriff David Clarke Over Media Attacks

Former Milwaukee Sheriff David Clarke was temporarily blocked from tweeting for violating Twitter’s terms of service with three posts that advocated violence against the media.

Twitter had no comment, but CNN reported that Clarke had been suspended until he deleted the tweets.

In one, Clarke wrote, “When LYING LIB MEDIA makes up MAKE NEWS to smear me, the ANTIDOTE is to go right at them. Punch them in the nose & MAKE THEM TASTE THEIR OWN BLOOD.” The tweet featured images of President Donald Trump and Clarke as wrestlers about to do harm to other wrestlers with the label “CNN.”

Clarke is a supporter of Trump’s, and is an adviser to America First Action, a SuperPAC to support the President.

According to CNN, Twitter responded to a complaint about the tweets by concluding that it was a violation of its terms of service.

Clarke’s account was placed in what Twitter calls a “limited state,” in which a user can only send a direct message to followers until some kind of action is taken on the account.

He tweeted other attacks on the media on Tuesday, but there was no reference to acts of physical harm.

He wrote, “I will NOT be Intimidated into silence by LYING LIB MEDIA. I will NOT be intimidated by LIBERAL hyper partisan government HACKS who weaponize government authority to go after people whose views they don’t like. I will STAND AND FIGHT for TRUTH & what I believe is RIGHT.”

A spokesman for Clarke did not immediately return a request for comment.

Related stories

Sen. Orrin Hatch Announces Retirement, Possibly Clearing Way for Mitt Romney

The Most Surprising Political Moments of 2017

Why 'The Post' Backlash Misses the Movie's Real Message

Subscribe to Variety Newsletters and Email Alerts!