Robert Mueller, the former FBI director appointed in 2017 to lead a federal investigation into possible collusion between Russia and Donald Trump’s first presidential campaign, has died at the age of 81.
“With deep sadness, we announce that Bob passed away” on Friday evening, his family said in a statement cited by US media on Saturday. “The family asks that their privacy be respected.”
Mueller, a veteran of the Department of Justice, is widely credited with reshaping the FBI—he became the bureau’s sixth director just days before the September 11, 2001 attacks.
Under his leadership, the bureau shifted its focus toward preventing terrorist threats on US soil. After completing the standard ten-year term, Democratic president Barack Obama asked him to remain in the role, making Mueller one of the longest-serving FBI directors.
Later, he was tasked with leading the special counsel investigation into alleged coordination between the Trump campaign and Russian authorities in the run-up to the 2016 election.
US President Donald Trump responded on Saturday to news of Mueller’s death, writing on his Truth Social platform: “I’m glad he’s dead. He can no longer hurt innocent people!”
Mueller, who produced a 448-page report on Russian election interference, said in 2019 that his investigation did not exonerate Trump, while also not bringing charges of criminal conspiracy.
The special counsel stressed that holding a sitting president accountable requires “a process other than the criminal justice system,” and separately noted that his report does not reach a definitive conclusion on whether Trump obstructed justice.
“A sitting president cannot be charged with a federal crime while in office,” Mueller said. “If we had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so.”
At the same time, the report explicitly stated that the Kremlin took steps to support Trump’s election—particularly through the spread of disinformation on social media and the hacking of Democratic Party emails. The investigation also found that the Trump campaign was aware it stood to benefit from these actions.
Mueller was born in New York, grew up in Philadelphia, and graduated from Princeton in 1966. After university, he joined the US Marine Corps and served as an officer for three years, including commanding a rifle platoon in Vietnam.
Before being appointed FBI director by Republican president George W. Bush, Mueller spent more than a decade as a federal prosecutor in California, and in 1982 became an assistant US attorney in Boston.
He later moved to the Department of Justice, where he led the criminal division, and then spent three years investigating homicides in Washington as a senior prosecutor.
A representative of the law firm WilmerHale, where Mueller worked at one stage of his career, described him as “an outstanding leader and public servant, a man of the highest integrity.”
“We are deeply proud that he was our partner,” the representative said. “Our thoughts are with Bob’s family and loved ones at this time.”