Robert Mueller, the longtime civil servant who led a controversial investigation into an alleged link between Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and Russia, has died, his family confirmed in a statement. He was 81.
Representatives for his family announced his passing in a statement sent Saturday to outlets including the Associated Press. “With deep sadness, we are sharing the news that Bob passed away” on Friday evening. “His family asks that their privacy be respected.”
A cause of death was not provided. In August, 2025, the New York Times reported that the former special counsel had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease in 2021. “He retired from the practice of law at the end of that year. He taught at his law school alma mater during the fall of both 2021 and 2022, and he retired at the end of 2022,” read a statement from his family at the time.
That announcement came after the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee sought to subpoena Robert Mueller, who led the FBI from 2001 to 2013. The committee was hoping to question him regarding the agency’s investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffery Epstein. Mueller was experiencing mobility and speech issues that would prevent his testimony, his family said then.
Mueller started his stint as the FBI’s sixth director just days before the September 11, 2001, attacks, an appointee of then-President George W. Bush. By then, FBI directors were restricted to 10 years in office, but an exception was made for Mueller in 2011 by then-president Barack Obama, who asked him to remain in the role for an additional two years. He departed the position in June, 2013.
His retirement was short-lived, however, as in May, 2017, Mueller was asked by then-Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to return as special counsel in charge of a criminal investigation into associates of Trump and Vladimir Putin regarding Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election. The much-anticipated results of the investigation, which concluded in May 2019, failed to provide conclusive evidence of criminal activity by the president. However, criminal charges were filed against a number of president’s associates as a result of the probe, including Trump’s campaign chairman Paul Manafort and first national security adviser Michael Flynn. In the end, the investigation netted seven indictments and seven guilty pleas.
However, Mueller remained resolute that the investigation was also not an exoneration of Trump, telling Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler “no” when asked if he “totally exonerate[d] the president” that July.
“If we had confidence after a thorough investigation of the facts that the president clearly did not commit obstruction of justice, we would so state,” Mueller wrote in his report. “Based on the facts and the applicable legal standards, we are unable to reach that judgment.”
