The director of the U.S. Secret Service will leave his job, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee said, amid an investigation into a security breach at the president's Mar-a-Lago resort and a broader shakeup within the Department of Homeland Security.
Randolph “Tex” Alles "will be leaving shortly" from the Secret Service, Sanders said in a statement on Monday. A Chinese national, Yujing Zhang, was arrested March 30 after entering President Donald Trump's Palm Beach, Florida, resort with electronics including a thumb drive containing malware and lying to a Secret Service agent about why she was there.
Alles was asked 11 days ago — prior to the Mar-a-Lago incident — to plan his departure, a person familiar with the matter said. The move also follows Trump's ouster of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen on Sunday, as his frustration over a spike in illegal border crossings grows.
Alles has led the Secret Service since April 2017. Before that, he was acting deputy commissioner for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which he joined in 2012 under the Obama administration. He is a 35-year veteran of the Marines.
James Murray, a career member of the Secret Service, will take over as director beginning in May, Sanders said.