Robert Mueller, FBI Director and Prosecutor Who Probed Trump Campaign, Dead at 81

Robert Mueller , who led the Federal Bureau of Investigation for more than a decade after the September 11 attacks and was later appointed to investigate Russian interference in the 2016 election, has died . He was 81. Mueller’s family, who confirmed the news to The New York Times, did not share a cause of death. The family announced last year that Mueller had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease in 2021.

Mueller was appointed special counsel in the wake of President Donald Trump’s abrupt firing of former FBI Director James Comey in 2017. Trump initially considered tapping Mueller to serve as FBI director after his upset victory in the 2016 election, but was barred from doing so as Mueller had already reached his term limit. In 2017, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein tapped Mueller to serve as special counsel overseeing the investigation into allegations of Russian meddling into the 2016 election.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from the investigation, as he had met with Russia’s ambassador on multiple occasions during the campaign. The appointment was initially well received across...