--- title: Donald Trump Offers to Destroy Texas State Senator's Career description: Donald Trump offered his help to a Texas sheriff feuding with a state senator. The White House later said that the president was joking. canonical: https://time.com/4663314/president-trump-destroy-texas-sheriff-opponent/ author: Sarah Begley article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-02-07T22:56:05.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T03:11:48.561Z article:section: Politics og:title: President Trump Offers to 'Destroy' Career of a Texas Sheriff's Opponent og:description: The sheriff has been in conflict with a state senator og:url: https://time.com/4663314/president-trump-destroy-texas-sheriff-opponent/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf4793dbff6d5ca30/6988b92efb4eac4681890ae7/donald-trump.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4000 og:image:height: 2250 og:image:alt: President Trump Holds Listening Session With County Sheriffs og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Trump Offers to 'Destroy' Career of a Texas Sheriff's Opponent twitter:description: The sheriff has been in conflict with a state senator twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf4793dbff6d5ca30/6988b92efb4eac4681890ae7/donald-trump.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Trump Offers to 'Destroy' Career of a Texas Sheriff's Opponent by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Feb 7, 2017 10:56 PM UTC  U.S. President Donald Trump speaks as he meets with county sheriffs during a listening session in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on February 7, 2017 in Washington, DC. The Trump administration will return to court Tuesday to argue it has broad authority over national security and to demand reinstatement of a travel ban on seven Muslim-majority countries that stranded refugees and triggered protests. (Photo by - Pool/Getty Images) U.S. President Donald Trump speaks as he meets with county sheriffs during a listening session in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on February 7, 2017 in Washington, DC. The Trump administration will return to court Tuesday to argue it has broad authority over national security and to demand reinstatement of a travel ban on seven Muslim-majority countries that stranded refugees and triggered protests. (Photo by - Pool/Getty Images)Andrew Harrer—Pool/Getty Images by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Feb 7, 2017 10:56 PM UTC [Donald Trump](http://time.com/4662409/donald-trump-theresa-may-hands-joke/) offered his help to a Texas sheriff feuding with a state senator, on Tuesday, volunteering to “destroy” the politician’s career. Sheriff [Harold Eavenson](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2017/02/07/well-destroy-his-career-trump-quips-about-a-texas-state-senator-at-odds-with-a-county-sheriff/?utm%5Fterm=.793756198713) of Rockwall County, a major figure in the National Sheriffs’ Association, was one of a group of law enforcement officials to meet with Trump and a number of White House officials on Tuesday. He expressed frustration with a state senator in Texas who wants to change [asset forfeiture](http://time.com/money/4106485/police-private-property-seizure/) law. “He was talking about introducing legislation to require conviction before we can receive that forfeiture money,” Eavenson said, “and I told him that the cartel would build a monument to him in Mexico if he could get that legislation passed.” “Who is the state senator?” Trump responded. “Do you want to give his name? We’ll destroy his career?” The quip was met with laughter in the room. A White House [spokesperson](https://twitter.com/Acosta/status/829075389184081920) said the president was only “joking.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4663314/president-trump-destroy-texas-sheriff-opponent/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4663314/president-trump-destroy-texas-sheriff-opponent/"},"headline":"President Trump Offers to 'Destroy' Career of a Texas Sheriff's Opponent","datePublished":"2017-02-07T22:56:05.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T03:11:48.561Z","description":"The sheriff has been in conflict with a state senator","url":"https://time.com/4663314/president-trump-destroy-texas-sheriff-opponent/","keywords":["White House","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf4793dbff6d5ca30/6988b92efb4eac4681890ae7/donald-trump.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf4793dbff6d5ca30/6988b92efb4eac4681890ae7/donald-trump.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Trump Holds Listening Session With County Sheriffs","caption":"President Trump Holds Listening Session With County Sheriffs","creditText":"Andrew Harrer—Pool/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4663314/president-trump-destroy-texas-sheriff-opponent/","name":"President Trump Offers to 'Destroy' Career of a Texas Sheriff's Opponent"}}]}] ```