Robert S. Mueller III, who investigated Trump, led FBI, dies at 81
by Lisa Hornung · UPIMarch 21 (UPI) -- Former FBI director and special counsel investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election Robert S. Mueller III died Friday at age 81.
His cause of death was not released but he had been suffering from Parkinson's Disease. Mueller was scheduled to testify in September about the case against sex offender Jeffrey Epstein but was excused because of the progression of the disease.
"Bob was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in the summer of 2021," his family told the New York Times in a statement at the time.
Mueller's two-year investigation determined in 2019 that Russia had interfered in the 2016 election of President Donald Trump. But said in the report: "While this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him."
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When he heard Mueller had died on Saturday, Trump said, "Good, I'm glad he's dead."
On Truth Social, he added, "He can no longer hurt innocent people!"
Mueller served as FBI director from 2001 to 2013 under presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. He took office just a week before the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
He oversaw some of the most dramatic changes at the FBI, transforming the bureau into a service that could protect national security and civil liberties. His agents blew the whistle on the CIA's secret prisons and the NSA's surveillance of American civilians.
As a Marine and ranger, he volunteered to serve in Vietnam and was awarded a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart.
He prosecuted Panama's Manuel Noriega for drug trafficking and Muammar Gaddafi for the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 in Lockerbie, Scotland, which killed 259 people.
He later became a homicide prosecutor in Washington, D.C., helping to bring down the murder rate in the city, which had become known as the murder capitol of the United States.
In March 2025, Trump signed an executive order to strip lawyers at WilmerHale of their security clearances, where Mueller was working at the time. The firm continues to fight the order.