Secret Service Director Randolph “Tex” Alles is leaving his role, according to multiple news outlets.
Alles, a retired Marine Corps major general and former acting deputy commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, was appointed to lead the Secret Service in April 2017.
Citing two unnamed administration officials, the Associated Press reported that “Alles’ departure stems from a personality conflict within the agency” and is unrelated to Sunday’s resignation of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen.
CNN reported that Alles “was told two weeks ago there would be a transition in leadership and he was asked to stay on until there was a replacement.” The network added that Secret Service officials were surprised by the news, and that Trump told his acting chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, to fire Alles.
It was also reported that the move was not related to the breach in which a Chinese national got past two checkpoints into Mar-a-Lago despite not being on the access list to President Trump’s club. A receptionist later called Secret Service to report the breach.
“Secret Service is fantastic. These are fantastic people. And the end result is it was good. I think probably will see what happened, where she’s from, who she is, but the result is they were able to get her and she’s now suffering the consequences of whatever it is she had in mind,” Trump told reporters last week. “But I would say I could not be happier with Secret Service. Secret Service has done a fantastic job from day one. Very happy with them.”