Biden names new Secret Service director amid Jan. 6 scrutiny

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Wednesday named Kim Cheatle, a veteran Secret Service official, to be the agency’s next director as it faces controversy over missing text messages around the time thousands of supporters of then-President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol.

Cheatle, who left the Secret Service in 2021 for a job as a security executive at PepsiCo, takes the reins as multiple congressional committees and the Department of Homeland Security's internal watchdog are investigating the missing text messages, which the Secret Service has said were purged during a technology transition.

Cheatle had served in the Secret Service for 27 years and was the first woman to be named assistant director of protective operations, the division that provides protection to the president and other dignitaries.

Cheatle had served on Biden’s protective detail when he was vice president. During that time, Biden “came to trust" her judgment and counsel, he said in a statement.

Biden said that her and first lady Jill Biden “know firsthand Kim’s commitment to her job and to the Secret Service’s people and mission.”

Cheatle replaces James Murray, who had announced his retirement to take a position with Snap, the social media company best known for its app, Snapchat. He announced last month that he would delay his retirement amid the investigations while Biden looked for a new director.

The Secret Service has faced increasing criticism after admitting that text messages from around the time of the attack of Jan. 6, 2021, on the Capitol were deleted.

The agency has said the messages were purged when its phones were migrated to a new system in the weeks after the 2021 attack. Rep. Stephanie Murphy, D-Fla., a member of the House committee investigating the attack, has said...