FILE PHOTO: Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey leaves the U.S. Supreme Court after justices heard arguments in an appeal by President Joe Biden's administration of restrictions imposed by lower courts on its ability to encourage social media companies to remove content deemed misinformation, in Washington, U.S., March 18, 2024. REUTERS/Bonnie Cash/File Photo
During former President Joe Biden's four years in the White House, he favored institutionalists for the FBI — which is how he regarded then-FBI Director Christopher A. Wray. Although Wray was a conservative Republican appointed by President Donald Trump during his first administration, Biden kept him as FBI director throughout his presidency.
But Trump's ultra-MAGA picks for the post-Wray FBI are the opposite of institutionalists, including FBI Director Kash Patel (a far-right conspiracy theorist) and Deputy FBI Dan Bongino. And Trump is also going total MAGA with his latest FBI pick: outgoing Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, the president's choice for a second deputy FBI director.
In his August 19 column, MSNBC's Steve Benen lays out some reasons why he finds Bailey a troubling choice for the FBI.
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"In a normal administration," Benen argues, "the FBI has a director and a deputy director, with the latter helping to oversee day-to-day operations at the bureau. The Trump Administration, however, isn't normal at all, which helps explain why the FBI will, at least for now, have two deputy directors."
According to Benen, the FBI's "new arrangement" with Bailey "is bizarre" and "appears to signal the beginning of the end of Bongino's tenure."
Bailey, Benen notes, has "a reputation for making 'bombastic' partisan attacks."
"The outgoing Missouri attorney general might not be a household name — at least, that is, not yet — but his record during a brief career in elected office is one of a hyper-partisan Republican activist," the MSNBC columnist and "Rachel Maddow Show" producer observes. "When prosecutors in New York, for example, successfully held Trump accountable for his business crimes, Bailey tried to sue New York to prevent sentencing after the guilty verdicts. The U.S. Supreme Court rejected the effort."
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Benen continues, "This is the same far-right lawyer who wanted then-President Joe Biden to be criminally prosecuted for his student loan debt forgiveness policy. He also launched an investigation into Google, alleging that the tech giant was secretly conspiring to suppress conservative views, which dovetailed with a related investigation into AI chatbots that Bailey said were too anti-Trump."
Had Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris won the 2024 election, it's entirely possible that Wray would still be FBI director. Instead, the FBI moved far right during Trump's second presidency.
"Bailey has even fought to keep exonerated prisoners behind bars, while pushing weird ideas to advance his anti-abortion agenda," Benen writes. "Put another way, under Kash Patel, the FBI has struggled. With Bailey joining the bureau's leadership team, it’s likely to get worse. "
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Steve Benen's full MSNBC column is available at this link.