Former FBI Director Robert Mueller, who investigated Russia-Trump campaign ties, dies

WASHINGTON (AP) — Robert S. Mueller III, the FBI manager who transformed the nation's premier instrumentality enforcement bureau into a terrorism-fighting unit aft the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and who aboriginal became peculiar counsel successful complaint of investigating ties betwixt Russia and Donald Trump's statesmanlike campaign, has died. He was 81.

“With heavy sadness, we are sharing the quality that Bob passed away” connected Friday night, his household said successful a connection Saturday. “His household asks that their privateness beryllium respected.”

At the FBI, Mueller acceptable astir about instantly overhauling the bureau’s ngo to conscionable the instrumentality enforcement needs of the 21st century, opening his 12-year tenure conscionable 1 week earlier the Sept. 11 attacks and serving crossed presidents of some governmental parties. The cataclysmic lawsuit instantaneously switched the bureau’s apical precedence from solving home transgression to preventing terrorism, a displacement that imposed an astir impossibly hard modular connected Mueller and the remainder of the national government: preventing 99 retired of 100 violent plots wasn’t bully enough.

Later, helium was peculiar counsel successful the Justice Department’s probe into whether the Trump run illegally coordinated with Russia to sway the result of the 2016 statesmanlike race. His probe concluded that Russia interfered successful the predetermination connected Trump's behalf and that the Trump run welcomed the help, but Mueller and his squad yet recovered insufficient grounds of a transgression conspiracy and did not marque a prosecutorial determination astir whether Trump had obstructed justice.

Mueller was maligned passim the two-year probe by Trump, who regularly derided it arsenic a “witch hunt.” But the patrician Princeton postgraduate and Vietnam seasoned who walked distant from a lucrative midcareer occupation to enactment successful nationalist work remained soundless passim the criticism, exhibiting an old-school, buttoned-down benignant that made him an anachronism during a societal media-saturated era.

Trump posted connected societal media aft the announcement of Mueller's death: “Robert Mueller conscionable died. Good, I’m gladsome he’s dead.” The Republican president added, “He tin nary longer wounded guiltless people!”

Republican President George W. Bush, who nominated Mueller, said successful a connection that helium was “deeply saddened” by Mueller's decease and praised him for having “dedicated his beingness to nationalist service” and for overhauling the FBI's mission. Democratic President Barack Obama, who kept Mueller connected adjacent aft his 10-year word had expired, called him “one of the finest directors successful the past of the FBI” who saved “countless lives” aft transforming the bureau.

“But it was his relentless committedness to the regularisation of instrumentality and his unwavering content successful our bedrock values that made him 1 of the astir respected nationalist servants of our time," Obama added.

The FBI did not respond to a petition seeking remark and existent Director Kash Patel, a Trump loyalist, did not instantly enactment the decease connected societal media. The FBI Agents Association cited Mueller's "commitment to nationalist work and to the FBI’s mission.“

A 2nd enactment arsenic an researcher of a sitting president

The second-longest-serving manager successful FBI history, down lone J. Edgar Hoover, Mueller held the occupation until 2013 aft agreeing to Obama’s petition to stay connected the occupation aft the decision of his tenure.

After respective years successful backstage practice, Mueller was asked by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to instrumentality to nationalist work arsenic peculiar counsel successful the Trump-Russia inquiry.

Mueller’s stern visage and taciturn demeanor matched the seriousness of the mission, arsenic his squad spent astir 2 years softly conducting 1 of the astir consequential, yet divisive, investigations successful Justice Department history. He held nary quality conferences and made nary nationalist appearances during the investigation, remaining quiescent contempt attacks from Trump and his supporters and creating an aura of enigma astir his work.

All told, Mueller brought transgression charges against six of the president’s associates, including his run president and archetypal nationalist information adviser.

His 448-page study released successful April 2019 identified important contacts betwixt the Trump run and Russia but did not allege a transgression conspiracy. Mueller laid retired damaging details astir Trump's efforts to prehend power of the investigation, and adjacent unopen it down, though helium declined to determine whether Trump had breached the law, successful portion due to the fact that of section argumentation barring the indictment of a sitting president.

But, successful possibly the astir memorable connection of the report, Mueller pointedly noted: “If we had assurance aft a thorough probe of the facts that the president intelligibly did not perpetrate obstruction of justice, we would truthful state. Based connected the facts and the applicable ineligible standards, however, we are incapable to scope that judgment.”

The nebulous decision did not present the knockout punch to the medication that immoderate Trump opponents had hoped for, nor did it trigger a sustained propulsion by House Democrats to impeach the president -- though helium was aboriginal tried and acquitted connected abstracted allegations related to Ukraine.

The result besides near country for Attorney General William Barr to insert his ain views. He and his squad made their ain determination that Trump did not obstruct justice, and helium and Mueller privately tangled implicit a four-page summary missive from Barr that Mueller felt did not adequately seizure his report’s conclusions.

Mueller deflated Democrats during a highly anticipated legislature proceeding connected his study erstwhile helium offered terse, one-word answers and appeared uncertain successful his testimony. Frequently, helium seemed to waver connected details of his investigation. It was hardly the commanding show galore had expected from Mueller, who had a towering estimation successful Washington.

Over the adjacent months, Barr made wide his ain disagreements with the foundations of the Russia investigation, moving to disregard a false-statements prosecution that Mueller had brought against erstwhile nationalist information advisor Michael Flynn, adjacent though that probe ended successful a blameworthy plea.

Mueller’s tenure arsenic peculiar counsel was the capstone of a vocation spent successful government.

FBI transformed into a nationalist information agency

At his 2001 confirmation hearing, Mueller spoke emphatically astir the FBI's relation successful combating everything from wellness attraction fraud to crimes against children and described the bureau helium would soon pb arsenic “vital to the preservation of our civilian bid and our civilian rights.”

“One could hardly overstate the value of the FBI successful the beingness of each American,” helium said.

It rapidly became wide that his clip arsenic FBI manager would beryllium defined by the Sept. 11 attacks and its aftermath arsenic an FBI granted wide caller surveillance and nationalist information powers scrambled to face an ascendant al-Qaida and interrupt plots and instrumentality terrorists disconnected the thoroughfare earlier they could act.

It was a caller exemplary of policing for an FBI that had agelong been accustomed to investigating crimes that had already occurred.

When helium became FBI director, “I had expected to absorption connected areas acquainted to maine arsenic a prosecutor: cause cases, white-collar transgression cases and convulsive crime,” Mueller told a radical of lawyers successful October 2012.

Instead, “we had to absorption connected long-term, strategical change. We had to heighten our quality capabilities and upgrade our technology. We had to physique upon beardown partnerships and forge caller friendships, some present astatine location and abroad.”

In response, the FBI shifted 2,000 of the full 5,000 agents successful the bureau’s transgression programs to nationalist security.

In hindsight, the translation was a success. At the time, determination were problems, and Mueller said arsenic much. In a code adjacent the extremity of his tenure, Mueller recalled “those days erstwhile we were nether onslaught by the media and being clobbered by Congress; erstwhile the lawyer wide was not astatine each blessed with me.”

Among the issues: The Justice Department’s inspector wide recovered that the FBI circumvented the instrumentality to get thousands of telephone telephone records for coercion investigations.

Mueller decided that the FBI would not instrumentality portion successful abusive interrogation techniques of suspected terrorists, but the argumentation was not efficaciously communicated down the enactment for astir 2 years. In an effort to determination the FBI into a paperless environment, the bureau spent implicit $600 cardinal connected 2 machine systems -- 1 that was 2½ years overdue and a predecessor that was lone partially completed and had to beryllium scrapped aft consultants declared it obsolete and riddled with problems.

For the nation’s apical instrumentality enforcement agency, it was a rocky travel done unsmooth terrain.

But determination were galore successes arsenic well, including thwarted panic plots and headline-making transgression cases similar the 1 against fraudster Bernie Madoff. The Republican besides cultivated an apolitical estimation connected the job, astir quitting successful a clash with the Bush medication implicit a surveillance programme that helium and his successor, James Comey, considered unlawful.

He famously stood alongside Comey, past lawman lawyer general, during a melodramatic 2004 infirmary standoff implicit national wiretapping rules. The 2 men planted themselves astatine the bedside of the ailing Attorney General John Ashcroft to artifact Bush medication officials from making an extremity tally to get Ashcroft’s support to reauthorize a concealed no-warrant wiretapping program.

In an bonzer ballot of confidence, Congress, astatine the Obama administration’s request, approved a two-year hold for Mueller to stay astatine his post.

“A large American died today, 1 I was fortunate capable to larn from and basal beside,” Comey said successful an Instagram post.

Another erstwhile FBI director, Christopher Wray, who was appointed during Trump's archetypal word and past served nether President Joe Biden, said successful a abstracted connection that Mueller was the “consummate consecutive shooter.”

“As everyone astatine the FBI who worked for, oregon with him, is good aware, Bob Mueller embodied the virtuousness of prioritizing work to the state implicit self, and helium ever enactment the ngo first,” Wray said.

A Marine who served successful Vietnam earlier becoming a prosecutor

Mueller was calved successful New York City and grew up successful a well-to-do suburb of Philadelphia.

He received a bachelor’s grade from Princeton and a master’s grade successful planetary relations from New York University. He past joined the Marines, serving for 3 years arsenic an serviceman during the Vietnam War. He led a firearm platoon and was awarded a Bronze Star, Purple Heart and 2 Navy Commendation Medals. Following his subject service, Mueller earned a instrumentality grade from the University of Virginia.

Mueller became a national authoritative and relished the enactment of handling transgression cases. He roseate rapidly done the ranks successful U.S. attorneys’ offices successful San Francisco and Boston from 1976 to 1988. Later, arsenic caput of the Justice Department’s transgression part successful Washington, helium oversaw a scope of high-profile prosecutions that chalked up victories against targets arsenic varied arsenic Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega and New York transgression brag John Gotti.

In a mid-career power that shocked colleagues, Mueller near a occupation astatine a prestigious instrumentality steadfast to articulation the homicide part of the U.S. attorney’s bureau successful the nation's capital. There, helium immersed himself arsenic a elder litigator successful a bulging caseload of unsolved drug-related murders successful a metropolis rife with violence.

Mueller was driven by a career-long passionateness for the painstaking enactment of gathering palmy transgression cases. Even arsenic caput of the FBI, helium would excavation into the details of investigations, immoderate of them large cases but others little so, sometimes astonishing agents who abruptly recovered themselves connected the telephone with the director.

“The absorption books volition archer you that arsenic the caput of an organization, you should absorption connected the vision,” Mueller erstwhile said. But “for maine determination were and are contiguous those areas wherever 1 needs to beryllium substantially personally involved,” particularly successful respect to “the violent menace and the request to cognize and recognize that menace to its roots.”

Two violent attacks occurred toward the extremity of Mueller’s watch: the Boston Marathon bombing and the Fort Hood shootings successful Texas. Both weighed heavy connected him, helium acknowledged successful an interrogation 2 weeks earlier his departure.

“You beryllium down with victims’ families, you spot the symptom they spell done and you ever wonderment whether determination isn’t thing more” that could person been done, helium said.

___ Associated Press writer Nicholas Riccardi successful Denver contributed to this report.

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