One of FBI Director Kash Patel’s top deputies is abruptly leaving the bureau, creating another opening at the highest levels of an agency already undergoing major organizational changes.

Andrew Bailey, the former Missouri attorney general who has served as one of the FBI’s co-deputy directors, announced Monday that he is stepping down after roughly a year at the bureau and returning home to his family in Missouri.

His final day will be Friday, Oct. 2.

“With great pride in what we have accomplished, I am announcing that I am stepping down to return to my family in Missouri,” Bailey said.

Bailey joined the FBI in 2025 after leaving the Missouri attorney general’s office and became part of an unusual leadership structure under Patel, serving alongside another co-deputy director.

His departure comes as Patel continues implementing major personnel and organizational changes at the FBI amid longstanding political disputes over the bureau and allegations of political bias in federal law enforcement.

Bailey, a Republican who previously served as Missouri’s top law enforcement official, has been a vocal supporter of Patel’s efforts to reshape the agency.

And despite his sudden departure, Bailey made clear that he continues to support Patel and the direction of the bureau.

“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,” he added.

Bailey also thanked President Donald Trump, Attorney General Todd Blanche and Patel for giving him the opportunity to serve.

During his tenure, Bailey became a visible member of the FBI’s leadership team, appearing alongside federal and state officials during law enforcement operations and promoting the bureau’s emphasis on combating violent crime.

He also participated in major investigations and enforcement initiatives as Patel’s leadership team sought to redirect bureau resources and address concerns among conservatives who had become deeply skeptical of the FBI.

The bureau has undergone extensive personnel and organizational changes since Patel became director in February 2025.

Patel has argued that the FBI needs to move away from what he describes as politicized enforcement and refocus the bureau on traditional law enforcement priorities, including violent crime, counterterrorism and threats to national security.

Those efforts have made Patel’s tenure closely watched in Washington as the Trump administration pursues broader changes across the federal government.

Bailey’s resignation now creates another vacancy near the top of the FBI less than two years into Patel’s tenure.

But Bailey said his decision was personal.

According to his public announcement, he is leaving Washington to return to Missouri and spend more time with his family.

Nothing in Bailey’s announcement indicated that he had been forced from his position or that his departure resulted from a dispute with Patel.

Instead, Bailey used his exit announcement to praise the FBI’s work during his tenure and publicly reaffirm his confidence in Patel.

His departure nevertheless removes a prominent member of Patel’s leadership team at a consequential moment for the bureau.

With Bailey preparing to leave Washington on Friday, Patel will now move forward without one of the senior officials who helped carry out the FBI overhaul during its first year under his leadership.

Fox News is bringing one of former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s most prominent former aides onto its platform — a move that immediately triggered a furious response from one of the network’s own former personalities.

Melissa DeRosa, Cuomo’s longtime top lieutenant and former secretary to the governor, has been hired as a Fox News contributor and will appear on the network’s new weekly podcast, “The Girls.”

DeRosa will make her debut when the program premieres Oct. 1, Fox News Media announced Monday.

But the announcement quickly reopened one of the most bitter controversies surrounding Cuomo’s administration: New York’s handling and reporting of nursing home deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Former Fox News meteorologist Janice Dean blasted the decision.

Dean’s mother-in-law and father-in-law died of COVID-19 in 2020 after living in New York long-term care facilities. Their deaths turned Dean into an outspoken critic of Cuomo and his administration as she pushed for answers about the state’s nursing home policies.

Following news of DeRosa’s Fox role, Dean unloaded.

“Melissa DeRosa helped smear the women who came forward about Andrew Cuomo’s harassment, and played a hand in undercounting nursing home deaths during COVID. Also tried to silence my advocacy.”

DeRosa served as secretary to the New York governor, becoming the first woman to hold the powerful position.

She resigned in August 2021 as sexual harassment allegations engulfed Cuomo’s administration.

But DeRosa had already become a central figure in the controversy surrounding the Cuomo administration’s handling of nursing home death information.

Months before her resignation, DeRosa acknowledged during a private call with Democratic state lawmakers that the administration had withheld nursing home death data while facing concerns about a possible investigation by President Donald Trump’s Justice Department.

The February 2021 disclosure intensified scrutiny over New York’s accounting of COVID-19 deaths among nursing home residents.

At the time, the state’s nursing home tally did not include residents who died after being transferred from nursing homes to hospitals, leaving thousands of deaths outside that particular count.

DeRosa later maintained that the administration had placed state lawmakers’ request for the information on hold while it prioritized responding to the federal inquiry.

The controversy did not end there.

A New York State Assembly investigation released in November 2021 concluded that Cuomo had not been fully transparent about nursing home resident deaths.

The investigation also concluded that Cuomo sexually harassed women and used state resources in connection with the production and promotion of his pandemic memoir.

Now DeRosa is returning to the political-media spotlight through Fox News.

She will appear on “The Girls,” a new weekly podcast featuring a rotating group of female co-hosts discussing politics, careers, family life and pop culture.

The premiere will also feature Fox personalities Rachel Campos-Duffy, Harris Faulkner and Kat Timpf.

New episodes are scheduled to be released Thursdays on YouTube, Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

The launch will also bring former ESPN personality Sam Ponder back into the spotlight following her 2024 departure from the sports network.

Ponder, the former host of “Sunday NFL Countdown,” will join DeRosa and the Fox personalities for the premiere episode.

But it is DeRosa’s addition that has already generated controversy before the first episode even airs.

For Dean, the issue is deeply personal.

She spent years publicly challenging Cuomo’s administration over its handling of nursing homes after losing two family members during the pandemic.

Now the former governor’s onetime top aide is joining the same media organization where Dean became one of the most visible critics of that administration.

And Dean made clear exactly what she thinks of the decision.

President Donald Trump added another lifetime appointment to the federal bench Monday as the Senate confirmed Ohio appeals court Judge Matthew R. Byrne to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio.

Byrne cleared the Senate in a 52-45 vote, giving Trump another federal judge during his second term and continuing the administration’s effort to fill vacancies across the federal judiciary.

The confirmation came after the Senate narrowly advanced Byrne’s nomination the previous evening.

Trump nominated Byrne earlier this year to fill the vacancy created by the retirement of U.S. District Judge Michael H. Watson.

Byrne currently serves on Ohio’s Twelfth District Court of Appeals, where he has sat since winning election in 2020.

Before joining the bench, Byrne spent approximately a decade practicing employment law.

Sen. Jon Husted, R-Ohio, highlighted Byrne’s record before the Senate Judiciary Committee, noting that the Ohio judge had participated in more than 800 appeals and authored hundreds of majority, concurring and dissenting opinions.

Husted described Byrne as hardworking, thoughtful and fair while praising his commitment to the rule of law.

Byrne’s record also attracted attention over his previous involvement with organizations opposed to abortion.

He has been affiliated with Ohio Right to Life, Cincinnati Right to Life, Warren County Right to Life, the Center for Christian Virtue and the Federalist Society.

Byrne also previously served on the board of a pregnancy center opposed to abortion.

Those issues did not prevent his nomination from clearing the Senate.

The final tally stood at 52 votes in favor and 45 against.

The confirmation is particularly consequential because Byrne is not receiving a temporary appointment.

Article III judges receive lifetime tenure after Senate confirmation, allowing them to remain on the federal bench until they retire, resign, die or are removed through impeachment.

That means Monday’s vote gives Trump another potentially long-lasting appointment to the federal judiciary during his second term.

The confirmation came as Senate leaders kept lawmakers in Washington for a final legislative push before senators return home.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune filed a series of procedural motions Monday targeting utility costs, congressional stock trading, healthcare regulations and a Cabinet nomination.

The chamber also completed work on the bipartisan Protect College Sports Act, approving the legislation in a decisive 77-22 vote.

The legislation would establish national rules governing athlete compensation, transfers, scholarships, medical coverage and name-image-likeness agreements.

The measure now heads to the House, which must act before the current Congress ends if the legislation is to survive.

Thune’s next major target is H.R. 9340, the Ratepayer Protection Act, which has already sailed through the House with overwhelming bipartisan support.

The House approved the legislation 417-3 on September 16, with 210 Republicans and 206 Democrats voting in favor.

The bill takes aim at a rapidly emerging issue surrounding America’s electricity infrastructure: the enormous power demands created by massive data centers and other facilities consuming at least 100 megawatts.

Under the legislation, state regulators would be required to consider standards designed to make qualifying large-load customers cover incremental costs associated with generation, transmission and distribution upgrades.

Republicans have highlighted the measure while arguing that ordinary households should not be forced to subsidize electricity infrastructure constructed primarily to serve massive technology companies and other large-scale power consumers.

Sen. John Kennedy summed up that argument in blunt terms.

“you’ve got to pay your own electricity.”

Sen. Josh Hawley has also raised concerns about the impact of rapidly expanding data centers in Missouri, where residents fear the facilities could consume farmland while contributing to sharply higher household electricity costs.

The burst of Senate activity puts several major issues on the chamber’s agenda, but Monday also delivered another lasting result for Trump’s second-term judicial agenda.

With Byrne confirmed, another Trump nominee has secured a lifetime position on the federal bench — an appointment whose impact could extend years beyond the president’s current term.