Clovis served in the Air Force for 25 years (1971–96). He was a
fighter pilot and
flight instructor and served in
The Pentagon, the Middle East, and as commander of the
70th Fighter Squadron. He rose to the rank of
colonel After retiring from the Air Force, Clovis worked for BETAC (1996–97) and
Northrop Grumman (1997–2000). In January 2010, Clovis started hosting his own radio talk show About the same time, he became active in the Republican Party and served as a delegate to the state convention in 2010. In 2012, he supported and campaigned with
Rick Santorum, who won the Iowa caucuses in an
upset. He was chairman of the 4th District Republican convention as well as an alternate delegate to the
2012 Republican National Convention. running against Democratic incumbent
Michael Fitzgerald. Clovis then hired
Matthew Whitaker, also an unsuccessful Republican Senate primary candidate, to chair his campaign for state treasurer. In November, Clovis lost to Fitzgerald, 53% to 44%.
Trump advisor and administration official On June 4, 2015,
The Washington Post reported that former
Texas Governor Rick Perry, shortly after launching his
presidential campaign, hired Clovis to chair his campaign in Iowa. On August 24, 2015, nearly three months later,
The Washington Post reported that Clovis resigned from the campaign, in part, over the campaign's failure to pay his salary. Clovis endorsed
Donald Trump the next day, August 25, with an introduction at a rally held in
Dubuque, Iowa. Clovis joined the campaign as a national co-chair and policy advisor. In July 2017, Trump nominated Clovis to the post of
Under Secretary of Agriculture for Research, Education, and Economics, the USDA's top science post. According to court records, Papadopoulos had been recruited to join Trump's foreign policy advisor team in early March 2016 by a "campaign supervisor" later identified as Clovis. In a meeting on March 6, Clovis reportedly told Papadopoulos that "a principal foreign policy focus of the campaign was an improved U.S. relationship with Russia," but Clovis denies having said that. Over the next few months, Papadopoulos made repeated but unsuccessful attempts to arrange meetings or contacts between Russian officials and Trump or his campaign representatives. Clovis was identified as a campaign supervisor who encouraged Papadopoulos to travel to Russia and meet Russian officials to build relations with
the Kremlin. He has since withdrawn from the nomination due to the ongoing investigation and questions about his role. On November 2, 2017, Clovis withdrew from consideration for the appointment for Under Secretary of Agriculture after he was linked to the special counsel investigation. Effective May 4, 2018, Clovis resigned from the USDA. ==Views==