ADVERTISEMENT

Trump Fires Secret Service Director, Picks James Murray as Replacement

Director of the US Secret Service Randolph Alles speaks during a press conference at the Department of Justice in Washington, DC on October 26, 2018 (ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP/Getty Images)
April 8, 2019

Secret Service Director Randolph Alles stepped down from his position Monday less than a day after Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen resigned.

Alles, who reports to the DHS Secretary, was reportedly told last month he would be asked to depart, according to ABC News.

"United States Secret Service director Randolph 'Tex' Alles has done a great job at the agency over the last two years, and the President is thankful for his over 40 years of service to the country," White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said. "Mr. Alles will be leaving shortly and President Trump has selected James M. Murray, a career member of the [United States Secret Service], to take over as director beginning in May."

Nielsen quit on Sunday after President Donald Trump asked for her resignation. The president said Kevin McAleenan, the current U.S. Customs and Border Protection commissioner, would become acting DHS secretary.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Francis Cissna and Office of the General Counsel's John Mitnick are also expected to leave the department soon.

"By the end of the week, more than half of the department’s agency heads could be gone with the positions vacant or with acting [personnel]," one official told ABC News.

The decision to remove Alles was reportedly unrelated to an incident last week in which a Chinese national was arrested after entering Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida while in possession of electronics which included a malware-infected thumb drive.

"Secret Service has done a fantastic job from Day 1. Very happy with them," Trump said after the Mar-a-Lago incident.

Alles previously led Air and Marine Operations for Customs and Border Protection, and he is a 35-year Marine Corps veteran.