Pam Bondi has emerged from self-exile following right-wing blowback over her handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files and is reasserting control over the Justice Department and her role as attorney general.

The Justice Department said Monday that Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, an ardent backer of President Donald Trump, had been appointed FBI co-deputy director. Bailey said he would resign as Missouri's top prosecutor to join conservative podcaster Dan Bongino in the bureau's No. 2 spot.

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.