Former FBI chief Robert S Mueller III passed away on Friday at the age of 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.”
Mueller, who served as FBI director from 2001 to 2013, is widely credited with transforming the agency into a more effective counterterrorism force in the wake of the September 11, 2001, attacks.
Mueller later served as special counsel from 2017 to 2019, leading the Justice Department’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and potential coordination with Donald Trump‘s campaign, as well as possible obstruction of justice by Trump.
Trump reacted to Mueller’s death on Truth Social, posting, “Robert Mueller just died. Good, I’m glad he’s dead. He can no longer hurt innocent people!”
The blunt statement renewed questions about why Trump harbored such strong animosity toward Mueller.
Why does Trump ‘hate’ Robert Mueller?
The special counsel probe was a persistent source of frustration for Trump throughout his presidency. He frequently denounced it as a “witch hunt,” a “hoax,” and politically motivated “harassment” by “angry Democrats” and the “deep state.” Trump repeatedly accused Mueller of personal bias and conflicts of interest, including claims tied to Mueller’s prior “collegial” relationship with fired FBI Director James Comey.
The Mueller Report, released in redacted form in April 2019, documented multiple instances in which Trump attempted to interfere with or halt the investigation.
While Mueller did not conclude that Trump committed a crime, the report explicitly stated: “While this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.”
Trump, however, declared the report a “complete and total exoneration,” particularly after Attorney General William Barr’s initial summary to Congress in March 2019.
In a post at the time, Trump wrote, “Bob Mueller was a great HERO to the Radical Left Democrats. Now that the Mueller Report is finished, with a finding of NO COLLUSION & NO OBSTRUCTION (based on a review of Report by our highly respected A.G.), the Dems are going around saying, ‘Bob who, sorry, don’t know the man.’”
When the full report became public, analyses highlighted its more nuanced findings.
Mueller’s May 2019 press conference and subsequent congressional testimony further clarified that the report did not exonerate Trump on obstruction, contradicting Trump’s portrayal.
Even years later, Trump continued to frame the investigation as an illegitimate, politically driven attack.
Also Read: Robert Mueller family: All we know about ex-FBI boss wife Ann Standish and children
In a Washington Post op-ed in July 2020, Mueller defended the outcome of his probe.
“The work of the special counsel’s office — its reports, indictments, guilty pleas and convictions — should speak for itself,” Mueller wrote.
“Uncovering and tracing Russian outreach and interference activities was a complex task,” he added.
“The investigation to understand these activities took two years and substantial effort. Based on our work, eight individuals pleaded guilty or were convicted at trial, and more than two dozen Russian individuals and entities, including senior Russian intelligence officers, were charged with federal crimes.”
