Murray spent 27 years with the Secret Service and rose to the director post in April 2019. He will join a technology company as head of global security after his retirement, a source told CNN.
Biden and first lady Jill Biden thanked Murray for his service in a statement Thursday, saying he “has led a long and distinguished career in federal and military service spanning three decades.”
“Jim personified the importance of service above self, and he protected the families of the Presidents of the United States as if they were part of him. We are extremely grateful for his service to our country and our family,” Biden said.
The move comes after the agency suddenly found itself in the spotlight over an alleged incident between a Secret Service agent and Trump on Jan. 6, 2021, and the role of Tony Ornato, who had temporarily taken over a White House detail at the time as deputy chief of Trump’s operations staff. Cassidy Hutchinson, a former White House aide, testified before the House Select Committee last month that Ornato, now the agency’s assistant director of training, told her that Trump became angry when he learned that his chief of staff, Bobby Engel, would not take him at the US Capitol. Instead, they returned to the White House after Trump’s speech at the Ellipse, which preceded the Capitol riot.
Neither Engel nor Ornato have commented publicly on Hutchinson’s testimony. A Secret Service official previously told CNN that Engel denies Trump grabbed the wheel or lunged at an agent and that Ornato denies saying the same thing to Hutchinson. The official did not dispute that Trump ordered his agents to take him to the Capitol.
A source told CNN that Murray’s retirement has been in the works for several months and is unrelated to the recent testimony or the House committee’s investigation.
CNN’s Shawna Mizell and Sam Fossum contributed to this report.
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