Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke is dubious of President Barack Obama's call for calm as the grand jury's decision was released in Ferguson, Missouri, on Monday.
Appearing Tuesday on Fox News Channel's
"Your World with Neil Cavuto," Clarke said that the police response in Ferguson was inadequate and that once rioting starts, "all bets are off." Police must use all reasonable force to restore order for the law-abiding citizens, he said.
"So, when I heard the president call for calm after the rioting started, I questioned his sincerity because some of his political strategy of divide-and-conquer fuels this sort of racial animosity between people," said Clarke, who is black. "And so, I think when he called for calm after the rioting started, I believe it was done with a wink and a nod."
Clarke also called out Attorney General Eric Holder, whom he said was in a position to have quelled the rioting in August, not long after the shooting of young black man Michael Brown by police officer Darren Wilson.
Instead, Clarke said, Holder "engaged with inflammatory rhetoric."
Justice is about due process, Clarke said, and no one is guaranteed a result. Due process played out at the state level, he said, and Holder's federal probe will only prolong the issue.
"Unless he thinks or he believes that there's something nefarious that went on here with the grand jury investigation, I think he ought to reconsider that," he said.
If Holder files an indictment at the federal level, and then it is thrown out by a judge, the trouble will start over again, Clarke said.
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