FBI Deputy Director Andrew Bailey Resigns, Disputes Departure Narrative.
Andrew Bailey, co-deputy director of the FBI, said Monday he is resigning after roughly a year under Director Kash Patel. Bailey, a former Missouri attorney general and Trump ally, said he is returning to his family in Missouri.
- 2 people familiar with the matter said his resignation takes effect Oct. 2.
- Bailey was the second person to leave the co-deputy role in under a year.
- He had been overseeing election-related investigations, including an FBI warrant seeking 2020 ballots in Fulton County, Georgia.
- Dan Bongino held the deputy role before Bailey; Christopher Raia now remains as sole deputy.
Why it matters: The FBI has operated for decades with a single career deputy director. The Trump administration broke from that tradition, creating a co-deputy structure that produced repeated leadership turnover.
- Bailey's departure comes days after two senior counterterrorism supervisors were reassigned over their handling of an investigation into allegedly harassing calls to Katie Miller, wife of senior White House aide Stephen Miller.
How 50 sources split on this story
Where they split: Coverage splits on why Bailey is leaving: his statement and one source cite family reasons, while multiple anonymous sources and some reporting point to friction with Patel and frustration over not being named director.
Center coverage, 11 sources: The center focuses on the structural oddity of the co-deputy arrangement and reports the competing explanations — family reasons versus internal friction — without resolving them.
Left coverage, 19 sources: The left frames Bailey's exit as evidence of dysfunction at the top of the FBI, emphasizing anonymous accounts of a broken relationship with Patel and linking the departure to what sources describe as Bailey's frustration at being passed over for director.
Right coverage, 20 sources: The right leads with Bailey's own statement, emphasizes his praise of Patel's reform agenda, and explicitly disputes the narrative that he left over frustration with personnel decisions.
What’s next: Raia, a longtime FBI agent who previously led the New York field office, remains as deputy director.
- No successor to Bailey has been named publicly.
- Whether the friction between Bailey and Patel — reported by multiple anonymous sources — played a role in the timing of his exit.
- Whether the Trump administration will revert to a single deputy director or appoint another co-deputy.
- How the reassignment of the two counterterrorism supervisors, which preceded Bailey's announcement by three days, relates to his decision.
