EXCLUSIVE – Andrew Bailey is heading home to Missouri, and the outgoing FBI co-deputy director has a blunt message for anyone suggesting turmoil at the bureau pushed him out. "This was 100% about my need to get home and raise my four small children," Bailey told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview. "I love my kids." Bailey, who announced Monday that he is leaving the FBI after just over a year, rejected suggestions that problems at the bureau played a part in his decision.
"My decision to go home is based solely upon my need to be a parent to my four children," he said. He accused some news outlets of spreading "lies" about the reason for his departure and offered a forceful defense of FBI Director Kash Patel amid scrutiny of the bureau's leadership. KASH PATEL TO TOUT 'LARGEST' YEAR-TO-YEAR VIOLENT CRIME DROP IN US HISTORY "Any accusation that Director Patel has focused on anything other than fulfilling the president's promise to make America safe again are bold-faced lies," Bailey said.
"We wake up every day and work early every morning and stay up late, oftentimes without sleep, to ensure mission accomplishment." ‘WORSE THAN WATERGATE’ NEW FBI FILES DETAIL AGENT’S PUSH TO JOIN TRUMP PROBE, INVESTIGATE ELON MUSK Patel, in his own statement Monday, said Bailey was leaving to return to his family in Missouri and praised his role in the FBI's overhaul. "Andrew's leadership at the FBI will be missed but we are grateful he answered the call to serve!" Patel wrote. He said Bailey had helped institute "critical reforms" and thanked him for his dedication to the bureau's mission.
EXCLUSIVE: FBI EXTRADITIONS SOAR AS PATEL RAMPS UP FOREIGN OUTREACH, VOWS 'NO SANCTUARY' Bailey had left his post as Missouri attorney general to join the bureau in 2025. Asked whether anything about the job factored into the timing of his exit, Bailey insisted it did not. He said protecting children had been central to his work as Missouri attorney general and remained a priority at the FBI.
FBI NABS MORE THAN 350 ALLEGED CHILD SEX ABUSE OFFENDERS According to Bailey, the bureau added 55 agents to child protection efforts and increased the number of victim service providers in field offices nationwide. During field office reviews, Bailey said he pressed staff on whether the bureau was "fulfilling our moral and legal obligation for victim notification and quality victim services." He called the FBI's victim services program "top notch." FBI AND TEXAS AUTHORITIES ARREST 276 SUSPECTED CHILD PREDATORS, RESCUE 89 CHILDREN IN SWEEPING OPERATION Bailey portrayed his time in Washington as part of what he called a "truly historic transformation" of federal law enforcement under President Donald Trump and Patel. He credited the administration's creation of homeland security task forces and designation of Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations with helping law enforcement pursue its mission.
He also said the FBI had made it easier for state, tribal and local officers to join its task forces, adding more than 2,000 task force officers in a year. TRUMP ADMINISTRATION SAYS FEDERAL AUTHORITIES HAVE ARRESTED MORE THAN 10,000 SUSPECTED GANG MEMBERS Bailey also pointed to what he described as a 20% reduction in homicides, more than 5,000 violent offenders arrested by the FBI and thousands of child victims identified and rescued as evidence that the administration's approach is working. The outgoing official also said the bureau had seized 3,258 kilograms of fentanyl in one year and arrested more than 4,200 members of foreign terrorist organizations.
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