Bailey joins the FBI after Bongino nearly resigned from office following the justice department’s handling of the Epstein files.

The move appears to diminish the authority of the current deputy director, Dan Bongino, whose tumultuous tenure has included a pitched argument over files related to the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.

Hanaway first won election to the Missouri House in 1998 and led the GOP takeover of the chamber in the 2002 elections as the state began a gradual transition from a political tos