Andrew Bailey is resigning as FBI co-deputy director to return to his family in Missouri, with Director Kash Patel praising his role in bureau reforms.
Fox News reported that Bailey announced the decision Monday in a social media post, saying he would leave the post and go home to Missouri.
Bailey stepped into the co-deputy role in August 2025. He is exiting after roughly a year in a leadership structure Patel built outside the bureau’s old single-deputy model, and he cast the move as a family choice rather than a break with the reform agenda.
In his post, Bailey tied the resignation to pride in the work already done and confidence in what comes next.
"With great pride in what we have accomplished, I am announcing that I am stepping down to return to my family in Missouri,"
He continued:
"I am confident Director Patel will continue to reform the FBI, combat violent crime, defend the homeland, ensure strong organizational accountability and restore public trust in this institution of excellence."
The FBI pointed reporters to that post. The White House deferred to Patel’s own remarks.
Patel answered on social media the same day. He treated the departure as a family return and credited Bailey with lasting changes inside the bureau.
"Although Andrew is leaving the FBI in order to return to his family in Missouri, his fantastic contribution instituting critical reforms which resulted in our historic success will live on. Andrew's leadership at the FBI will be missed but we are grateful he answered the call to serve!"
Patel added:
"Thanks Andrew for your tremendous dedication to the mission of this FBI."
That exchange keeps the public line clear: family first for Bailey, continuity on crime, homeland defense, accountability, and public trust under Patel.
Bailey did not hold the job alone. Patel installed a nontraditional co-deputy setup. Bailey first served with Dan Bongino, the conservative podcaster and former Secret Service member.
Bongino stepped down in December 2025. Reporting at the time tied his exit to clashes with then-Attorney General Pam Bondi over handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files. After Bongino left, Bailey continued in the co-deputy role with Chris Raia, the former assistant director in charge of the bureau’s New York City Field Office.
Bailey’s Monday announcement makes him the second high-profile figure to leave that dual leadership track in under a year. No successor was named in the available statements, and Raia’s status after the departure was not spelled out.
Separate claims circulated that Bailey was “annoyed” over recent personnel moves at the Washington Field Office. The FBI Rapid Response account on X rejected that framing outright.
"This is clickbait dressed up as reporting,"
The account also posted:
"Fake news."
Those posts answered speculation, not Bailey’s own resignation message. Bailey’s stated reason remained family and a return to Missouri.
Related reporting noted that two FBI agents were demoted and reassigned last week. The context given was concern that the agency was not moving fast enough on alleged threatening phone calls to Katie Miller, the wife of White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller. The resignation materials did not present those demotions as Bailey’s stated cause for leaving.
From August 2025 to the Monday announcement, Bailey’s public record in the job sat inside Patel’s reform pitch: violent crime, homeland defense, organizational accountability, and restored trust. A January 28, 2026 photo caption placed Bailey outside the Fulton County Election Hub and Operation Center in Union City, Georgia, after the FBI executed a search warrant related to the 2020 election, an image of operational tempo, not of the resignation itself.
Exact timing of his last day, any permanent replacement, and the full outcome of the Katie Miller threat investigation were not detailed in the resignation notices. What was detailed was the mechanism: a social post from Bailey, a thank-you from Patel, a referral from the FBI, a deferral from the White House, and a sharp denial from the bureau’s rapid-response account when outside narratives tried to rewrite the motive.
Family reasons are a legitimate exit. Taxpayers still need an FBI that hits crime hard, answers to the law, and does not hide behind spin when personnel decisions draw heat, and leadership changes only matter if the reforms Bailey endorsed actually stick.
