Trump taps Missouri attorney general to be No. 2 at FBI

[Desmond Milligan 0]

President Donald Trump plans to appoint Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey to share the role of second-in-command at the FBI as the administration tries to contain tension over its handling of the files related to the case of the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Bailey would serve as deputy director of the FBI alongside Dan Bongino, who has clashed with Attorney General Pam Bondi over the release of files from the Epstein investigation.

Trump was expected to make the announcement Monday, according to a person with knowledge of the decision who was granted anonymity to discuss it beforehand. Fox News Digital was first to report on Trump’s plans to appoint Bailey.

The White House deferred to the Department of Justice for comment. DOJ did not immediately respond to comment.

Bailey, a former prosecutor who has been serving as the attorney general of Missouri since January 2023, interviewed with Trump at Mar-a-Lago during the transition for the role of U.S. Attorney General.

The announcement comes as anger over the Epstein Files roils the MAGA base and has exposed fractures within the FBI. Bongino has been at odds with Bondi over the handling of the sensitive documents — at one point privately threatening to resign. That created an untenable working condition even if he later went back to work.

Bailey’s tenure as Missouri AG has included high-profile moves aligned with Trump’s interests, including a long-shot petition filed last year with the U.S. Supreme Court seeking to lift the gag order against Trump and delay his New York sentencing until after the Nov. 5 election.

Bailey was appointed in 2023 to fill a mid-term vacancy after the previous Missouri attorney general, Eric Schmitt, was elected to the U.S. Senate. He won a full term in November after defeating Trump White House staff secretary Will Scharf in the Republican primary.

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