Robert Mueller

Robert Swan Mueller III (August 7, 1944 – March 20, 2026) was an American lawyer who served as the sixth director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from 2001 to 2013.

A graduate of Princeton University and New York University, Mueller served as a U.S. Marine Corps officer during the Vietnam War, receiving a Bronze Star for heroism and a Purple Heart. He later attended the University of Virginia School of Law. Mueller was a registered Republican in Washington, D.C., and was appointed or reappointed to Senate-confirmed positions by presidents George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama.

Mueller worked in both government and private practice. He served as an Assistant U.S. attorney, a U.S. attorney, the U.S. assistant attorney general for the U.S. Department of Justice Criminal Division, a homicide prosecutor in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, acting U.S. deputy attorney general, a partner at the Washington D.C. law firm WilmerHale, and director of the FBI. He was the only FBI director permitted by Congress to serve more than the statutory 10‑year term limit since the death of J. Edgar Hoover in 1972, receiving a special two‑year extension.

In 2017, Mueller was appointed special counsel to oversee the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and related matters. He submitted his report in 2019, after which the Office of the Special Counsel was closed and Mueller resigned.