Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke said he has been on a mission of “serving his community for 38 years” and that he is open to the opportunity to run for higher office.

“I’d take a look at it. I never say never,” he said.

Clarke said:

I take life one day at a time. I’m a cop at heart. I bleed blue with the men and women that I send out on a daily basis and the men and women who go out every day and put on this uniform–in these impossible environments–and try to protect law-abiding black people. The fact that they are under assault, that their characters are being maligned unfairly, smeared, brandished as bloodthirsty and racist–I feel that as I send men and women out every day. I have an obligation to be very vocal.

“That’s one thing that I ask the President. Send a very clear message about how they protect the rule of law, how they protect our way of life here in America. And they need to be appreciated,” Sheriff Clarke said. “Then he needs to stop and not pivot and smear them.”