FBI Co-Deputy Director Andrew Bailey to Step Down

Andrew Bailey, the FBI's first-ever co-deputy director, announced Monday he is leaving the bureau after about a year to return to his family in Missouri.

Andrew Bailey is stepping aside as FBI co-deputy director after roughly a year in the job, two people familiar with the matter told NBC News. Bailey confirmed the move Monday morning on social media, writing that he was stepping down "to return to my family in Missouri." He thanked President Donald Trump, Attorney General Todd Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel for the opportunity. An internal FBI email cited family reasons for the departure, according to NBC News.

Bailey joined the bureau in September 2025 in a first-of-its-kind "co-deputy director" position, created to work alongside then-Deputy Director Dan Bongino, the former Secret Service agent and conservative podcaster. ABC News reports the arrangement was at times ill-defined, and it is unclear whether Chris Raia — Bongino's replacement, a career FBI special agent whose background fit the bureau's traditional No. 2 profile — will now serve as sole deputy. Bongino himself left after just under a year to return to podcasting, making Bailey the second departure from that leadership experiment.

Bailey's federal move surprised Missouri political observers, according to St. Louis Public Radio, because he resigned the attorney general's office in 2025 just after being elected to a full term. He had been appointed by then-Gov. Mike Parson and served from early 2023 through mid-2025, after working as Parson's general counsel. As attorney general he won a consent decree barring social media companies from censoring protected speech and sued the Biden administration over issues including transgender athletes and immigration, per ABC News.

Though he generally kept a low profile at the FBI, Bailey helped lead election integrity investigations and appeared with then-Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard at the January search of Fulton County, Georgia's main election office, in which ballots and other 2020 election documents were seized. A federal judge in May denied Fulton County officials' request to force the FBI to return hundreds of boxes of seized ballots, ABC News reports. He was also in St. Louis this year to discuss crime-fighting efforts, and St. Louis Public Radio notes he was often seen as a potential successor to Patel.

Bailey's statement did not specify whether the resignation takes effect immediately, and an FBI spokesperson referred St. Louis Public Radio to his X post when asked for a departure date. Patel praised Bailey in a social media post, saying he was grateful for his "dedicated service to return the FBI to its core mission." The exit comes as the bureau faces leadership scrutiny: Patel has feuded with Democratic lawmakers over his stewardship and is suing The Atlantic for $250 million over an article about his leadership, NBC News reports, and The Wall Street Journal reported that hundreds of FBI agents have left in recent months.