FBI’s No. 2 Slams ‘Lies,’ Reveals Family Is The Real Reason He Is Leaving

Outgoing FBI Co-Deputy Director Andrew Bailey is pushing back against reports linking his departure to internal conflict, saying he is returning to Missouri for one reason: to raise his four young children.

“This was 100% about my need to get home and raise my four small children,” Bailey said in an exclusive interview.

“I love my kids,” the former Missouri attorney general added.

Bailey announced Monday that he would leave the bureau after more than a year in its senior leadership. He rejected suggestions that demotion, dissatisfaction or disagreements within the FBI had prompted his decision.

“My decision to go home is based solely upon my need to be a parent,” he said.

The outgoing official accused some news organizations of publishing “lies” about his exit. Far from distancing himself from FBI Director Kash Patel, Bailey defended his leadership and credited him with refocusing the bureau on its public-safety mission under President Donald Trump.

He described accusations against Patel as “bold-faced lies” and portrayed the agency’s restructuring as a necessary effort to improve federal law enforcement.

Patel, in turn, praised Bailey’s contribution to reforms that he said were delivering historic results.

“Andrew’s leadership at the FBI will be missed,” Patel said, thanking him for answering the call to serve.

Bailey stepped down as Missouri attorney general in 2025 to join the FBI. Following Dan Bongino’s departure, veteran bureau official Christopher Raia joined Bailey and Patel in the agency’s senior leadership.

Now preparing to return home, Bailey described the work undertaken during his tenure as a “truly historic transformation.”

His account emphasized a shift toward violent-crime investigations, protecting children and defending the homeland, with greater operational responsibility placed in field offices rather than concentrated in Washington.

Bailey credited Trump’s homeland security task forces and the designation of Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations with strengthening cooperation among federal, state, tribal and local authorities.

According to Bailey, the FBI added more than 2,000 task force officers over the past year, expanding the partnerships through which agents conduct investigations and pursue offenders.

He also cited what he described as a 20 percent decline in homicides under the administration’s approach.

Bailey presented several additional figures as evidence of the bureau’s recent work. He said FBI personnel arrested more than 5,000 violent offenders and seized 3,258 kilograms of fentanyl over a one-year period.

During that same period, he said, authorities arrested more than 4,200 members of foreign terrorist organizations.

Those figures formed part of Bailey’s assessment of the administration’s record. His argument was that changes in priorities and cooperation were producing concrete enforcement results.

Protecting children featured prominently in that assessment.

Bailey said FBI personnel had identified and rescued thousands of child victims. He separately cited approximately 11,000 child victims located and identified, though he did not specify the timeframe for that figure.

He described child protection as a consistent priority connecting his work in Missouri with his service at the bureau.

According to Bailey, the FBI assigned 55 additional agents to child-protection efforts and expanded the availability of victim-service providers in field offices.

He called the bureau’s victim services program “top notch,” saying he had personally reviewed its work during visits to field operations.

His comments also highlighted changes to the FBI’s structure.

More than 1,500 positions were moved to field offices, Bailey said, placing personnel closer to investigations and communities where they could have a greater operational effect.

He argued that reducing layers of approval helped investigators follow leads more quickly, allowing agents to spend less time navigating internal procedures.

The same emphasis on efficiency extended to forensic work. Bailey said the bureau processed more than 1.8 million DNA samples and cleared its backlog for the first time.

Taken together, he presented those changes as a return to the FBI’s core responsibilities: investigating crime, supporting victims and protecting Americans.

Asked about political influence, Bailey said public safety and fidelity to the Constitution were the “only considerations.”

He also argued that some criticism of Patel reflects resistance from people invested in the bureau’s previous leadership culture.

Bailey accused that earlier culture of using the agency against Trump and his family. Those allegations informed his broader defense of Patel’s effort to change the institution’s direction.

Restoring the FBI’s traditional mission, he said, would inevitably provoke opposition from the “sacred guardians of the status quo.”

His departure comes as personnel changes and restructuring continue to attract scrutiny at the nation’s leading federal law-enforcement agency, Fox News reported.

Bailey’s response was that those institutional disputes should not be mistaken for an explanation of his personal decision.

He praised the leadership he is leaving behind, defended the reforms he helped implement and repeatedly returned to the same point: after more than a year at the FBI, his priority is being home with his children.