--- title: White House: Stephon Clark Police Shooting a 'Local Matter' description: The White House declined further comment on the fatal police shooting of Stephon Clark, describing it as a "local matter" canonical: https://time.com/5219574/donald-trump-stephon-clark-local-matter/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-03-28T22:52:29.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-12T20:54:47.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump White House Calls Fatal Police Shooting of Stephon Clark a 'Local Matter' og:description: 'That is a local matter and something that we feel should be left up to the local authorities' og:url: https://time.com/5219574/donald-trump-stephon-clark-local-matter/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt62d8e5ef100457d7/69892c46bc6cfc73413e5801/sarah-sanders-stephon-clark.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders Holds Daily Briefing At The White House og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump White House Calls Fatal Police Shooting of Stephon Clark a 'Local Matter' twitter:description: 'That is a local matter and something that we feel should be left up to the local authorities' twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt62d8e5ef100457d7/69892c46bc6cfc73413e5801/sarah-sanders-stephon-clark.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Trump White House Calls Fatal Police Shooting of Stephon Clark a 'Local Matter' > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Updated: Dec 12, 2023 8:54 PM UTCPublished: Mar 28, 2018 10:52 PM UTC  White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders speaks during a White House daily news briefing on March 28, 2018 in Washington, DC. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders speaks during a White House daily news briefing on March 28, 2018 in Washington, DC. Alex Wong/Getty Images  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Updated: Dec 12, 2023 8:54 PM UTCPublished: Mar 28, 2018 10:52 PM UTC White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Wednesday declined further comment on the fatal police shooting of [Stephon Clark](http://time.com/5218459/stephon-clark-sacramento-shooting-family-funeral/), an unarmed 22-year-old black man, describing it as a “local matter.” She gave the same answer when asked about two more incidents of deadly police violence against black men. “Certainly a terrible incident,” Sanders said Wednesday, when asked about Clark’s death and the recent decision [not to bring criminal charges](http://time.com/5217176/alton-sterling-police-murder-charges/) against the police officers who fatally shot [Alton Sterling](http://time.com/4395459/alton-sterling-baton-rouge-police-shooting/) in Baton Rouge, Louisiana in July 2016. “This is something that is a local matter and something that we feel should be left up to the local authorities at this point in time,” Sanders said. Clark was [shot at 20 times](http://time.com/5209780/stephan-alonzo-clark-sacramento-police-shooting/) by Sacramento police officers while he was in his grandparent’s backyard. Police said they thought Clark was armed, but he was found with only a cell phone. Hundreds of protesters — including Clark’s brother — rallied at Sacramento City Hall on Tuesday, calling for justice for Clark. Trump has repeatedly said that police officers [deserve more respect](https://www.facebook.com/DonaldTrump/videos/10157097990175725/), and he has been [critical of protesters](http://time.com/4960638/donald-trump-latest-battle-against-nfl/) calling for an end to police brutality and racial injustice. “Certainly we want to make sure that all law enforcement is carrying out the letter of the law,” Sanders said Wednesday, when pressed for follow up. “The President’s very supportive of law enforcement, but at the same time in these specific cases, in these specific instances, those would be left up to local authorities to make that determination — and not something for the federal government to weigh into.” By comparison, Trump has repeatedly weighed in on the 2015 [shooting death of Kate Steinle](http://time.com/5032771/kate-steinle-immigration-closing-arguments/) in San Francisco, which became a flash point in the national immigration debate. Jose Ines Garcia Zarate, an undocumented immigrant who was accused of killing her, was acquitted of murder in December, but was found guilty of illegal gun possession. Steinle died on July 1, 2015\. Two days later, Trump tweeted about her death, sending “heartfelt condolences” to her family. He later [demanded](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/620957579729084416) that President Obama call her family and blamed her death on the immigration policies of the Obama Administration. Trump also took to Twitter in December to criticize the jury’s verdict in the case. “A disgraceful verdict in the Kate Steinle case! No wonder the people of our Country are so angry with Illegal Immigration,” [he tweeted](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/936437372706836480), later adding: “His exoneration is a complete travesty of justice. BUILD THE WALL!” Trump has not tweeted about Clark’s death. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5219574/donald-trump-stephon-clark-local-matter/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5219574/donald-trump-stephon-clark-local-matter/"},"headline":"Trump White House Calls Fatal Police Shooting of Stephon Clark a 'Local Matter'","datePublished":"2018-03-28T22:52:29.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-12T20:54:47.000Z","description":"'That is a local matter and something that we feel should be left up to the local authorities'","url":"https://time.com/5219574/donald-trump-stephon-clark-local-matter/","keywords":["White House","Donald Trump","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt62d8e5ef100457d7/69892c46bc6cfc73413e5801/sarah-sanders-stephon-clark.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt62d8e5ef100457d7/69892c46bc6cfc73413e5801/sarah-sanders-stephon-clark.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders Holds Daily Briefing At The White House","caption":"Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders Holds Daily Briefing At The White House","creditText":"Alex Wong/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/5219574/donald-trump-stephon-clark-local-matter/","name":"Trump White House Calls Fatal Police Shooting of Stephon Clark a 'Local Matter'"}}]}] ```