Robert Mueller, the man who led the FBI for 12 years before heading the Justice Department’s investigation into Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign, has died aged 81, his family announced Saturday.
“With deep sadness, we are sharing the news that Bob passed away” on Friday night, the family said in a statement, adding that they ask for privacy.
Mueller, a long-serving public official, drew the ire of President Trump while serving as special counsel probing potential collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. Mueller said at the time his report did not exonerate Trump.
Trump took to his social media platform to gloat over Mueller’s death, writing: “Robert Mueller just died. Good, I’m glad he’s dead. He can no longer hurt innocent people!” Other presidents responded more traditionally. Barack Obama, whose presidency overlapped five years with Mueller’s FBI directorship, called him “one of the finest directors in the history of the FBI,” praising his commitment to the rule of law. Republican George W. Bush, who first nominated Mueller, said he was “deeply saddened” and praised Mueller’s lifelong dedication to public service.
Mueller was the FBI’s second-longest serving director after J. Edgar Hoover. He took over the bureau in 2001, days before the September 11 attacks, and led efforts to expand its counterterrorism mission. Before the FBI, Mueller was a decorated Vietnam-era Marine and a federal prosecutor in San Francisco and Boston, prosecuting high-profile cases including those against mobster John Gotti and Panama’s Gen. Manuel Noriega.
Mueller retired from the FBI in 2013 after extending his tenure at President Obama’s request, but was called out of retirement in 2017 to lead the probe after Trump fired FBI director James Comey. The investigation ran about two years and culminated in Mueller testifying to Congress. His team brought charges against 34 people — six of them Trump associates — and three companies. The 448-page report documented numerous contacts between the Trump campaign and Russia but did not allege a criminal conspiracy. It also detailed efforts by the president to influence the investigation.
While Mueller declined to assert whether Trump had committed a crime, the report stated: “If we had confidence after a thorough investigation of the facts that the president clearly did not commit obstruction of justice, we would so state. Based on the facts and the applicable legal standards, we are unable to reach that judgment.”
Edited by: Karl Sexton