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A Women’s History Month event at the White House on Thursday featured a notable lineup of speakers, including Clay County Sheriff Michelle Cook.
During the event, President Donald Trump took a moment to highlight Sheriff Michelle Cook, who has served Clay County for six years, as part of the celebration hosted by him and First Lady Melania Trump.
“One of the guests President Trump will mention at the White House’s Women’s History Month event today [March 12] hails from Florida,” Regional Press Secretary Liz Huston informed the Times-Union, referencing Cook.
Huston confirmed that Sheriff Cook attended the event and was slated to deliver brief remarks. She also shared insights into Cook’s career achievements.
Addressing the audience alongside the president, Cook expressed her deep knowledge of two important topics: raising a family and serving the community.
“Raising a family is an honor, and with President Trump’s No Tax on Overtime law, families can now recognize additional dollars from their hard work,” she said, thanking him. “… I’d also like to talk about law enforcement, as mentioned I’ve done 35 years in this field. And one thing I’ll tell you is crime will rise to the level that a community allows it to rise. And when you have a president of the United States standing up from the … White House and Washington, D.C., saying that we will have law and order in our nation, that sets the tone and that sets the expectation.”
Cook entered the law enforcement profession as a patrol officer, working as a beat cop on the street in 1992. With promotions throughout her career at the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, she retired as a three-star director and third in command there ― a 3,300-member agency and the nation’s 25th-largest police department.
In 2017, Cook accepted the position of chief of police for Atlantic Beach. In early 2020, she retired from the Atlantic Beach Police Department and began her campaign for sheriff in the county she was born and raised in. She beat out five other candidates to win her primary and was declared the winner of the race for Clay County sheriff.
Cook has a master’s degree in criminal justice from the University of North Florida. She is a graduate of the FBI Law Enforcement Executives training and a member of the Florida Sheriff’s Association. Cook also currently serves on multiple boards and committees, many of which she holds leadership positions in. She is married to Don Tuten and together they have six kids, four of whom were adopted out of the local foster care system.
In the president’s message on Women’s History Month, Trump stated, “We celebrate the extraordinary American women of our past and the titans of the present who have strengthened our families, enriched our culture, defended our values, pioneered our industries, and shaped our nation’s glorious future.
” For 250 years — from the diligence of Betsy Ross, the faith of Katharine Drexel, and the courage of Amelia Earhart to the ingenuity of Annie Oakley, the selflessness of Clara Barton, and the timeless integrity of Harper Lee — strong women have brought our nation to countless new heights and moments of triumph,” his message continued. “To this day, across every industry, women are champions of success, trailblazers in their fields and models in their homes. Whether they serve our nation as service members, government leaders, entrepreneurs, or mothers, every devoted woman guides our Nation’s strength, prosperity and way of life.”
This article was originally published by our news partners at The Florida Times-Union.