After souring on Secret Service director, Trump reportedly started mocking his looks

(Image credit: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images)

last updated 9 April 2019

President Trump is now comparing members of his administration to animated Disney characters, calling outgoing Secret Service Director Randolph Alles "Dumbo" because of his ears, two officials told The New York Times.

The White House announced Alles' departure on Monday. A retired Marine major general, Alles has been on Trump's hit list for awhile, the officials said, but he moved up a few places after a Chinese woman was arrested last month at Trump's private Florida club Mar-a-Lago after she was found carrying a thumb drive with malicious malware on it. The Secret Service pinned the incident on Mar-a-Lago staffers, saying they did not pay close enough attention to who was on the property.

The officials told the Times Alles was notified 10 days ago that he could craft his own exit plan, and was not given a hard date to leave. Several Secret Service officials said the Mar-a-Lago security breach likely contributed to Alles being pushed out so quickly. When he wasn't complaining about Alles' work, Trump was making pot shots at his appearance, officials told the Times, calling him Dumbo because of the size of his ears. Read more about the shake-up in the Department of Homeland Security at The New York Times.

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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