Tag: United States Secret Service

The Story: While both Houses of Congress were deliberating over the electoral votes of the various states Wednesday, January 6, preparatory to the final confirmation...

President Trump turned up the heat on the immigration debate to scalding this week. NPR's Ron Elving joins us. And, you know, Homeland Security officials had been denying this idea was really under consideration right up until the president said he was still thinking about it. ELVING: Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen resigned under pressure. And that's a trade-off that the president apparently likes. SIMON: We didn't get the Mueller report this week, redacted or otherwise, but Attorney General Barr still managed to keep his name in the news. So it was amazing to hear him make such statements without having that information. President Trump was once a big fan of Julian Assange's, wasn't he? ELVING: Said he was. SIMON: NPR's Ron Elving, thanks so much.

(CNN)United States Secret Service director Randolph "Tex" Alles is being removed from his position, multiple administration officials tell CNN. President Donald Trump instructed his acting chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, to fire Alles. Alles remains in his position as of now but has been asked to leave. The USSS director was told two weeks ago there would be a transition in leadership and he was asked to stay on until there was a replacement, according to a source close to the director. In an email to employees at his agency obtained by CNN's Jim Acosta, Alles told the workforce he was not fired, but was told weeks ago that the administration would be making "transitions in leadership" at the Department of Homeland Security. "The President has directed an orderly transition in leadership for this agency and I intend to abide by that direction," he wrote. "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. A source familiar with the director said his ouster was not related to the recent scrutiny the Secret Service got after a Chinese woman illegally entered the President's Mar-a-Lago club carrying Chinese passports and a flash drive containing malware. "Secret Service has done a fantastic job from Day 1. Alles previously served in Customs and Border Protection leadership and also led that agency's Air and Marine Operations.

USSS Director Randolph Alles, a retired Marine Corps major general who was appointed two years ago, is on his way out the door just the day after the head of the Department of Homeland Security, Kirstjen Nielsen, resigned under pressure on Sunday night. Alles reported to her. In a statement to the agency's workforce on Monday, Alles denied being fired and said he was informed "weeks ago" that there would be across-the-board changes in leadership at DHS. I assure you that this is not the case, and in fact was told weeks ago by the Administration that transitions in leadership should be expected across the Department of Homeland Security," Alles said in a statement. He added, "It has been my great honor to serve as Director of the U.S. Secret Service. Your dedication and sacrifice continue to make the U.S. Secret Service an elite law enforcement agency; one that will remain so well into the future." CNN first reported Alles' departure. April 8, 201902:31 Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., called on Alles to testify before Congress about the Mar-a-Lago incident in a statement on Monday “The outgoing Secret Service director must testify before Congress as soon as possible about the potential security vulnerabilities at Mar-a-Lago involving a Chinese national arrested with malware, and other counterintelligence and national security threats," Schumer said. Meanwhile, Trump may remove or reassign Claire Grady from her current role as acting Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security, in order to install Kevin McAleenan, the current commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, as the Acting Secretary for DHS, according to three administration officials. But Trump announced on Sunday that he planned to make McAleenan the acting secretary.