Secret Service official involved in Jan. 6 retires from agency

Secret Service agents stand guard as Former President Donald Trump sits for a deposition at the office of the NYS Attorney General on August 10, 2022 in New York City. A top Secret Service official who previously served in a political position in the Trump White House left the agency Monday for a job in the private sector. Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images News | Getty Images

A top Secret Service official who served in a political position in the Trump White House left the agency Monday for a job in the private sector. Tony Ornato, who was an assistant director at the Secret Service, said his departure was planned more than a year ago, before explosive congressional testimony this summer about former President Donald Trump's actions on Jan. 6. "I did retire today to pursue a career in the private sector," Ornato told NBC News. "I retired from the U.S. Secret Service after more than 25 years of faithful service to my country, including serving the past five presidents. I long-planned to retire and have been planning this transition for more than a year." Secret Service Special Agent Kevin Helgert said Ornato retired "in good standing." Ornato led Trump's protective detail and made the unusual move to a political position as the White House deputy chief of staff for operations in 2019 before he returned to the Secret Service to help oversee its office of training. Ornato became a key figure in the House Jan. 6 committee's investigation into the insurrection when former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson testified at a public hearing that Ornato had described to her an incident inside the armored SUV carrying Trump on Jan. 6, 2021. Hutchinson said Ornato described Trump's lunging at the driver and insisting they go to the Capitol, where his supporters were gathering. Hutchinson's account has been disputed by some people familiar with the matter. His departure from the Secret Services comes amid other high-level changes at the agency. James Murray announced his retirement as director last month, before the congressional uproar over missing Secret Service text messages from Jan. 6 became public. President Joe Biden last week appointed Kim Cheatle as Murray's successor.

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Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., a member of the Jan. 6 committee, said in an interview Sunday on NBC News' "Meet the Press" that the panel was looking into the missing text messages and would likely be able "to get answers to that" by the time it restarts public hearings next month.

Ornato has already testified to the House panel behind closed doors, according to an aide.

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Top Pro-Russian Official Shot Dead in Ukraine's Kherson

A former deputy who switched allegiance from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for the occupying Russian forces in the southern region of Kherson has been shot dead, Russian investigators said Monday. Alexei Kovalev, "the deputy head of the military and civil administration in the Kherson region was killed by bullets," the investigators said on Telegram. The attack took place in his home on Sunday, they said, adding a young woman who lived with him was also a victim. They did not give any further details. In the past months, several Ukrainian officials named by Russian forces in occupied territory have been killed or wounded in attacks. Kovalev, 33, was elected a deputy in 2019 in Kherson and joined Zelensky's group in the Ukrainian parliament. After the Russian offensive on Ukraine at the end of February and the occupation of Kherson by Russian troops, Kovalev joined the invading forces and became a senior official. He survived an assassination attempt in June. Russian forces seized Kherson, a town of 280,000 inhabitants, on March 3.  It was the first major city to fall following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

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Behind the scenes of a visit to the southern border: Top border official

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National Border Patrol Council Vice President Art Del Cueto showed how border visits are usually a "dog and pony show" Thursday on "Your World."

US SOUTHERN BORDER SAW NEARLY 200,000 MIGRANT ENCOUNTERS IN JULY AS BORDER CRISIS ROLLS ON ART DEL CUETO: A lot of times what you see during these visits is it's a dog and pony show. And you have - the leadership will take them down there. They'll show them around. They'll say, "This is what we're doing. This is … the facilities that we have." But it's very rarely a one-on-one conversation with the actual boots on the ground where they can speak freely and say, "Hey, this is the problem." … Usually it's just a dog and pony show for the leadership down there. Probably showed them around, gave them some good gadgets. They took a couple good pictures in front of some of the equipment. And they said, "Well, he came down" and that's it. It's over.  CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP WATCH THE FULL INTERVIEW BELOW:

This article was written by Fox News staff.

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