Trump's unusual FBI leadership shake-up takes another hit as top official exits

WASHINGTON, DC: Andrew Bailey is leaving the FBI after roughly a year as one of the bureau’s two co-deputy directors, ending another chapter in an unusual leadership arrangement created under Director Kash Patel.

Bailey announced on Monday, September 28, that he will step down October 2 and return to his family in Missouri, thanking President Donald Trump, Attorney General Todd Blanche and Patel for the opportunity.

Andrew Bailey's rapid rise reaches another turn

Bailey arrived at the FBI after a rapid climb through the Missouri government.

Gov Mike Parson appointed him attorney general in January 2023 after then-Attorney General Eric Schmitt was elected to the Senate. Bailey later won a full term before leaving the office for Washington.

Missouri records show he resigned as attorney general on September 8, 2025, when he was appointed FBI co-deputy director.

At the bureau, Bailey was involved in high-profile law-enforcement operations, including Operation VIPER in the St Louis region.

The two-week operation produced 91 arrests, 36 firearm seizures and roughly $310,000 in recovered cash, according to Missouri reporting.

He also represented the FBI in international meetings in Argentina and Guatemala involving law-enforcement and security cooperation.

Bailey said his departure is about returning home.

FBI Director Kash Patel praised his contributions and said the reforms Bailey helped implement would continue.

Dan Bongino's exit reshaped FBI's No 2

Bailey originally entered the bureau alongside Dan Bongino, whose appointment itself marked a major departure from the traditional career-agent path to the deputy director position.

Bongino had worked for the NYPD and Secret Service and became a conservative media personality before joining the FBI. He had never served as an FBI agent.

Bongino announced in December 2025 that he would leave the bureau and officially departed in January.

His short tenure included reported tensions over the handling of the Epstein files and the demands of the job.

President Trump said Bongino wanted to return to his media career.

Christopher Raia then replaced Bongino as Bailey’s co-deputy.

Unlike Bongino, Raia was a career FBI agent who joined the bureau in 2003 and had held senior countert*******m and national-security positions before running the New York field office.

Senior FBI turnover predates Bailey's departure

Bailey’s exit comes after a broader period of personnel changes at the bureau.

Before Patel formally became FBI director in February 2025, several senior officials were ordered to leave or face dismissal, according to reporting at the time.

The changes affected executive assistant directors and senior field-office leaders.

Later that year, acting FBI Director Brian Driscoll, Washington field-office chief Steven Jensen and agent Walter Giardina were among senior personnel forced out, according to The Washington Post.

Driscoll had resisted demands related to identifying agents involved in the January 6 investigation, though the administration did not publicly give that as his firing reason.

MS NOW reported that Bailey had also been overseeing election-related matters and that people familiar with his departure said he had been frustrated by the recent demotion of two senior countert*******m agents in the Washington field office over their handling of an investigation into alleged harassing calls to Stephen Miller’s wife.

The FBI disputed that account, saying Bailey told the workforce he was leaving for family reasons and that the claim he was “annoyed” by the personnel moves was false.

The bureau said Bailey supported those decisions and called the report “clickbait dressed up as reporting.”

No successor for Bailey had been announced when his departure was reported on Monday.