#dan-bongino — Trump Fail

Kash Patel's FBI Lost Another Top Leader: Co-Deputy Director Andrew Bailey — a Former State Attorney General Once Seen as Patel's Likely Successor — Resigned After Barely a Year, Publicly Citing Family, but Reporting Says Patel Kept Him at Arm's Length, Went Months Without Speaking to Him, and Cut Him Out of Meetings Reportedly Because Bailey Kept Flagging Things as Unconstitutional — While the Administration's Own Dismissive Explanation Was That He "Quit Because He Had Nothing to Do"

On September 28, 2026, Andrew Bailey — the co-deputy director of the FBI and, before that, the attorney general of Missouri — announced he is resigning from the bureau effective October 2, after just over a year. Publicly, Bailey said he was stepping down "to return to my family in Missouri," and cited "great pride in what we have accomplished." Beneath that, the reporting describes dysfunction. According to The New York Times, Bailey and Director Kash Patel had an acrimonious relationship and went months without communicating; other sources said Patel kept Bailey at arm's length from the start, did not invite him to meetings, and cut him out — reportedly because Bailey kept flagging actions as unconstitutional. A senior administration official offered a dismissive gloss: Bailey had "nothing to do" and "quit because he had nothing to do." Either version is damning. If Bailey was frozen out for raising legal and constitutional objections, then Patel sidelined the person whose job was partly to keep the FBI within the law. And if a co-deputy director of the FBI genuinely had "nothing to do," that is its own indictment of how Patel runs the place. Bailey — once floated as a potential Patel successor — is only the latest senior departure: his co-deputy Dan Bongino left last December, and experienced officials have streamed out under a director this archive has documented purging the bureau, gutting its standards, and treating it as a personal instrument.

Trump's Most Loyal Aide — Natalie Harp, the "Human Printer" Who Sits Just Outside the Oval Office and Handles His Truth Social Account — Worked More Than a Year Inside the White House With No Security Clearance, Repeatedly Refusing the Standard Vetting Every West Wing Staffer Undergoes, Until Trump Personally Intervened to Get Her One; a Former CIA Official Called It "Mind-Boggling"

Natalie Harp — one of Donald Trump's closest and most devoted aides, known as his "human printer" for the stream of flattering news clippings and poll numbers she hands him, who sits just outside the Oval Office and has access to his Truth Social account — worked inside the White House for more than a year without a security clearance, according to reporting broken by MS NOW on August 19, 2026. The clearance is a routine step every West Wing staffer completes; Harp repeatedly declined to fill out the paperwork after Trump returned to office in January 2025, and her reason for refusing was never made clear. The problem is her access: national security officials noted that her physical proximity to Trump — in both the West Wing and the residence — gives her exposure to more sensitive information than almost any other senior official, and she had it for a year while un-vetted. Concern grew inside the White House counsel's office and among security officials until Trump himself intervened, after which Harp finally submitted the forms, underwent a federal background investigation, and received the clearance in recent months. A former CIA official called the situation "mind-boggling." Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt responded that Harp "has a security clearance like everyone else" and called her a dedicated team member. The episode fits a documented pattern of the administration treating the national-security vetting system — the safeguard that exists to keep the un-vetted away from classified information — as optional for loyalists: FBI Director Kash Patel similarly granted deputy Dan Bongino a waiver around a key clearance while giving him access to the President's Daily Brief.