Deputy FBI Director Abruptly Quits Amid Clashes With Kash Patel

Andrew Bailey, who joined the F.B.I. in an unusual capacity as co-deputy director, is abruptly leaving his position after a little more than a year. This comes amid much turbulence in federal law enforcement agencies under the Trump administration.

From the New York Times:

An internal F.B.I. email indicated Mr. Bailey was stepping down for family reasons, according to people familiar with the decision who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe a move that was not yet public.

In recent months, people familiar with the inner workings of the agency have described the arrangement between Kash Patel, the director, and his two deputy directors — Mr. Bailey and Christopher Raia, a longtime F.B.I. agent and manager — as rocky.

Mr. Patel and Mr. Bailey did not get along, and often went long stretches without speaking to each other, according to multiple people familiar with their interactions who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

In August 2025, the Trump administration announced a novel arrangement, saying that Bailey would join Dan Bongino as a co-deputy director.  Bongino resigned in December 2025 after serving less than a year in the role

As former Missouri Attorney General, Bailey pursued several Republican culture-war issues including filing lawsuits to overturn Missouri’s ban on “conversion therapy,” suing Planned Parenthood over abortion pills, and suing Starbucks for not hiring enough white people.

Read more here.


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