Eric Trump is now a Deputy Sheriff in St. Lucie County

Image via Eric Trump/Instagram.

Eric Trump now carries a badge — and the authority to make arrests — in St. Lucie County.

On Tuesday, as Hurricane Milton bore down on Florida’s Gulf Coast, St. Lucie Sheriff Keith Pearson swore in Donald Trump’s second-eldest son as a Special Deputy.

Eric Trump posted several pictures to Instagram announcing his appointment, one of which showed him taking an oath of duty in front of a sniper rifle not unlike the one that took out his father’s would-be assassin three months ago.

“I have always wanted to become a Sheriff!” Trump wrote in the post, which by Friday afternoon received more than 122,000 likes.

“Thank you @SheriffKeithPearson and the incredible men and women of the St. Lucie County Sheriffs (sic) Office. Truly an honor! #BackTheBlue #Sheriff Trump”

He later added a joking admonishment to his brother, Donald Trump Jr.: “Ps @donaldtrumpjr you better not speed through St Lucie county! I’m 👀 you!”

Trump has no law enforcement background. He is a trustee and Executive Vice President of the Trump Organization, a surrogate for his father’s presidential campaign and a former boardroom judge on his father’s discontinued TV show, “The Apprentice.”

Since his father’s loss in 2020, he helped to spread baseless claims that the election was stolen and spoke at the “Save America” rally that preceded the U.S. Capitol riot on Jan. 6, coincidentally his birthday.

In his father’s hush money, it was acknowledged that Eric Trump signed reimbursement checks to his father’s then-lawyer, Michael Cohen, who admitted to paying adult film actress Stormy Daniels to remain quiet about a tryst she had with the former President. Donald Trump still denies such an encounter occurred, but has thus far failed to explain why he paid Daniels.

So, how is it that Eric Trump was able to gain Deputy Sheriff status without boasting sufficient policing bona fides? Florida law allows Sheriffs to appoint Special Deputies even if they don’t undergo police academy training, as long as they meet the minimum recruit requirements. And unless they’re appointed solely to enforce parking ordinances, Special Deputies have “full powers of arrest.”

Trump isn’t a St. Lucie County resident, according to state voter data. He lives in Jupiter and voted as a resident of Palm Beach County in the Aug. 20 Primary. State law does not require Deputy Sheriffs to live in the county where they serve, but it allows localities to set stricter standards. The St. Lucie Sheriff’s Office’s minimum requirements do not include county residency.

Florida Politics requested a comment from Pearson, whom Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed Dec. 1 after the abrupt retirement of longtime Sheriff Ken Mascara, a Democrat. Pearson is a Republican.

WPTV’s Meghan McRoberts reported in June that while Mascara’s retirement seemed sudden at the time, it followed a dayslong effort to vet Pearson and advance him as the top candidate to replace Mascara. Pearson, a lieutenant at the time, was recommended for the job by Department of Commerce Secretary Alex Kelly, then DeSantis’ acting Chief of Staff, over higher-ranked majors and captains.

McRoberts also reported that the Governor’s Office received nearly three dozen letters from St. Lucie residents, including members of the St. Lucie Republican Executive Committee and former law enforcement officers. All expressed concern about Pearson, which some called “ill-advised” and a “mistake.”

Pearson — whose political ally, Tony DiFrancesco, hosted a fundraiser for DeSantis and with family members gave the Governor’s campaign more than $1 million combined in November 2023 — was also confirmed in June to be the subject of a scheme involving Mascara and a Republican the former Sheriff is accused of propping up as a so-called “ghost candidate” to win re-election in 2020.

On his Facebook page, which includes photos of him posing with ex-President Trump and a clip of Eric Trump decrying U.S. military aid payments to Ukraine, Pearson wrote, “Our newest Special Deputy Eric Trump keeping St Lucie safe while Making America Great Again!”

The St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office serves more than 329,000 residents, according to the Florida Sheriffs Association.

Trump joins several other celebrities who donned a badge, including Elvis Presley, Steven Seagal, La Toya Jackson, Dean Cain and Erik Estrada, among others.