Former FBI director Robert Mueller dies; 81
WASHINGTON—Robert Mueller III, the FBI director who transformed the nation’s premier law enforcement agency into a terrorism-fighting force after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and who later became special counsel in charge of investigating ties between Russia and Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, has died. He was 81.
“With deep sadness, we are sharing the news that Bob passed away” on Friday night, his family said in a statement Saturday. “His family asks that their privacy be respected.”
At the FBI, Mueller set about almost immediately overhauling the bureau’s mission to meet the law enforcement needs of the 21st century, beginning his 12-year tenure just one week before the Sept. 11 attacks and serving across presidents of both political parties. The cataclysmic event instantaneously switched the bureau’s top priority from solving domestic crime to preventing terrorism, a shift that imposed an almost impossibly difficult standard on Mueller and the rest of the federal government: preventing 99 out of 100 terrorist plots wasn’t good enough.
Trump: ‘witch hunt’
Later, he was special counsel in the justice department’s investigation into whether the Trump campaign illegally coordinated with Russia to sway the outcome of the 2016 presidential race. His investigation concluded that Russia interfered in the election on Trump’s behalf and that the Trump campaign welcomed the help, but Mueller and his team ultimately found insufficient evidence of a criminal conspiracy and did not make a prosecutorial decision about whether Trump had obstructed justice.
Mueller was maligned throughout the two-year investigation by Trump, who regularly derided it as a “witch hunt.” But the patrician Princeton graduate and Vietnam veteran who walked away from a lucrative midcareer job to stay in public service remained silent throughout the criticism, exhibiting an old-school, buttoned-down style that made him an anachronism during a social media-saturated era.
Trump posted on social media after the announcement of Mueller’s death: “Robert Mueller just died. Good, I’m glad he’s dead.” The Republican president added, “He can no longer hurt innocent people!”
‘One of the finest’
Republican President George Bush, who nominated Mueller, said in a statement that he was “deeply saddened” by Mueller’s death and praised him for having “dedicated his life to public service” and for overhauling the FBI’s mission.
Democratic President Barack Obama, who kept Mueller on even after his 10-year term had expired, called him “one of the finest directors in the history of the FBI” who saved “countless lives” after transforming the bureau.
