CNN has now stooped so low as to accuse Sheriff David Clarke of plagiarizing his Master’s thesis. All of this because he accepted a position in the Trump administration. Can you say petty?
But Clarke isn’t about to take their crap lying down. You don’t bash “America’s Sheriff” without getting hit back.
Their evidence? They cited 47 instances where Clarke “lifts language from sources and credits them with a footnote, but does not indicate with quotation marks that he is taking the words verbatim,” which is in violation of of the Naval Postgraduate School’s plagiarism standards.
CNN’s sources also claim that Clarke also plagiarized the “9/11 Commission Report, a myriad of studies from the American Civil Liberties Union, reports from various think tanks and even former President George W. Bush’s post-White House memoir ‘Decision Points’.”
The Naval Postgraduate School has agreed to open an investigation into the thesis and removed it from their website as is standard procedure when someone is accused of plagiarism.
Lt. Cdr. Clint Phillips, the spokesman for the school, issued a statement to CNN:
Like all academic institutions, the Naval Postgraduate School takes the integrity of our students’ work very seriously, perhaps even more than our peers given the unique nature of our mission and student body. Standard procedure to any formal accusation of plagiarism is to pull the student’s thesis, and perform an investigation into the validity of the claims.
The university’s academic conduct code, and our procedures in checking for plagiarism at the time of thesis submission, and following graduation, can change from year to year. In this particular case, we would be unable to determine any violation until the full investigation is complete.
Clarke responded:
This @CNN hack @KFILE oppo research MO is to accuse plagiarism. I'm next. Did it to Rand Paul, Monica Crowley et al. https://t.co/KgoHKermpe
— David A. Clarke, Jr. (@SheriffClarke) May 20, 2017
Ample evidence of my previous tweet on @CNN political hack @KFILE. Guy is a sleaze bag. I'm on to him folks. https://t.co/D1kV8kg80G
— David A. Clarke, Jr. (@SheriffClarke) May 20, 2017
It doesn’t surprise me that CNN is trying so hard to discredit anyone surrounding Trump, but that doesn’t make it right.