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Robert Mueller, the FBI director who transformed the premier law enforcement agency in the U.S. 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 on 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 9/11 attacks and serving across presidents of both political parties. He was nominated by then-Republican president George W. Bush.
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.
Later, he was special counsel in the Justice Department’s investigation into whether the Trump campaign illegally co-ordinated with Russia to sway the outcome of the 2016 presidential race.
Trump posted on social media about 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!”
The FBI did not immediately respond to a request seeking comment.
