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For almost 2 years, Robert Mueller led the special counsel investigation into Russian election interference — and whether the Trump campaign coordinated with the Kremlin.
Previously, he was the longest-serving FBI director since J. Edgar Hoover. Mueller was nominated to the position by President George W. Bush, and sworn in a week before 9/11.
On May 17, 2017, former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appointed Mueller special counsel to take over the Russia investigation, and on May 29, 2019, Mueller announced he was stepping down following the release of his final report in April 2019.
Now, Mueller is back in the spotlight to testify to Congress about the report. Here's a look at Mueller's career, and how he got to where he is now.
He'll return to the spotlight on Wednesday to testify before two House committees.
The Russia probe was also examining whether the Trump campaign colluded with the Kremlin, and if President Donald Trump has obstructed justice while in office.
In Washington, Mueller has a reputation for being a tenacious investigator. Both Republicans and Democrats welcomed his appointment in May 2017 with bipartisan backing.
Mueller made it explicitly clear that the report did not exonerate Trump, and that his office had no ability to charge Trump with a crime given existing DOJ policy prohibiting prosecutors from indicting a sitting president.
"If we had had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so," Mueller said in his only press conference.
Now that Mueller's work is done, it is up to Congress to determine whether or not to initiate impeachment proceedings against Trump. With Mueller set to testify before Congress, see what you need to know about him.
Born Robert Swan Mueller III in New York City in 1944, "Bob" grew up in the suburbs of Philadelphia, the elder brother to four younger sisters. Their father was an executive at DuPont. He captained the soccer, hockey, and lacrosse teams in high school.
Mueller pursued a career in medicine before he went off to fight in the Vietnam War.
Dennis Cook/AP
Mueller went to undergrad at Princeton University, got his Master's in international relations from New York University, and graduated from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1973.
When one of his friends died in the Vietnam War, Mueller was inspired to join the military. He had been previously pursuing a career in the medical field.
In 1968, Mueller enlisted in the Marine Corps and went on to become a decorated officer serving in Vietnam. He received a Bronze Star, a Purple Heart, the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry, and two Navy Commendation Medals.
After his military service, Mueller joined the San Francisco office of the international law firm, Pillsbury, Madison and Sutro. He worked as a litigator for three years.
Mueller received his law degree from the University of Virginia.
Evan Vucci/AP
Then he spent more than a decade in government working for US Attorney offices in California, Massachusetts, and Washington, DC, gaining particular expertise in prosecuting white collar crime.
Mueller attends the swearing in of James Comey as the new FBI director in 2013.
Alex Wong/Getty
Mueller is respected among his colleagues for his dedication to public service. In one example, a former associate was stunned when Mueller chose in 1995 to work in the homicide section of the US Attorney's Office in DC, which was perceived as a demotion for the highly credentialed lawyer.
Mueller points to a photo of Pan Am Flight 103 wreckage as the assistant attorney general in 1991.
Barry Thumma/AP
Mueller reportedly explained his decision by saying, "There's just too many young people dying violently in this city, and I want to do my share to put an end to that."
Robert Mueller pauses after making an opening statement at the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in 2013.
REUTERS/Larry Downing/File Photo
Working on major cases involving financial fraud, terrorism, public corruption, money laundering, and narcotics conspiracies helped Mueller become a seasoned investigator over the years.
Mueller is now leading one of the most publicized investigations in the country as he looks into whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia during the 2016 elections.
AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite
A week before 9/11, he was sworn in as the director of the FBI under President George W. Bush. The Senate confirmed him unanimously even though he was diagnosed with prostate cancer at the time.
In 2002, Mueller was the subject of lawsuits filed by Muslim immigrants who claimed they had been beaten and abused by officials in immigration detention centers because of policies the Bush Administration implemented after 9/11. The Supreme Court ruled in 2017 that Mueller, along with John Ashcroft, the former attorney general, could not be sued.
Mueller is praised across the political aisle.
Thomson Reuters
In 2004, there was a standoff between Mueller and Bush after he and other Justice Department officials threatened to resign if changes were not made to the National Security Agency's domestic wiretapping program. Bush conceded in the end.
After Mueller finished his 10-year term in 2011, President Barack Obama asked him to stay for two more years. He was the longest-serving FBI director since J. Edgar Hoover, who founded the bureau in 1935.
President Barack Obama, Attorney General Eric Holder, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and FBI Director Robert Mueller attend the National Peace Officers' Memorial Service Washington.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty
Mueller is often praised on Capitol Hill for his service under both Republicans and Democratic presidents.
Mueller confirmed that the FBI uses drones for domestic surveillance during a hearing on FBI oversight in 2013.
Alex Wong/Getty
Even though Mueller is a Republican, many Democrats admire him. In 2017, Democratic Senator Jim Himes said, "There's not anybody with as much credibility internally or whose integrity is as unimpeachable as Bob Mueller."
Mueller's colleagues have praiseworthy things to say about him.
Mark Wilson/Getty
During his private and public sector careers, Mueller presided over many noteworthy cases, including the prosecutions of Panama's former dictator, Manuel Noriega, and New York City crime boss, John Gotti.
Mueller has presided over many high-profile cases throughout his career.
Thomson Reuters
In 2015, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell put Mueller in charge of investigating the widely-publicized Ray Rice incident. Rice, then a running back for the Baltimore Ravens, was indicted on third-degree aggravated assault for beating his fiancée, although the charges were later dropped.
In March 2017, former Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from all Russia-related investigative matters after failing to disclose his campaign-trail meetings with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, setting off a chain of events.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions during a press conference.
Alex Wong/Getty Images
In May 2017, Trump fired FBI Director James Comey, who testified before Congress that he thought it was because of the investigation he was conducting into Trump and his associates' ties to Russia. Sessions had recommended his firing, so his recusal was then thrown into question.
Comey testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee on June 9.
Drew Angerer/Getty Images
On May 17, 2017, former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appointed Mueller special counsel to take over the Russia investigation, including "any links and/or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump."
James Comey and Robert Mueller walk together outside the White House.
Win McNamee/Getty
Some Trump allies have criticized Mueller's closeness to Comey and accused him of overreaching in the investigation. In response to calls for his firing, senators introduced bipartisan legislation that would allow Mueller to challenge the Department of Justice in court if he were removed. That bill stalled in Congress.
A Republican and a Democrat co-sponsored the bill in the Senate. It hasn't passed yet.
Jeff Chiu/AP
In October 2017, George Papadopoulos, a foreign-policy adviser to Trump's campaign in early 2016, secretly pleaded guilty to making false statements to the FBI about the nature and extent of his contacts with foreign nationals who he knew had ties to senior Russian government officials.
On October 30, 2017, a grand jury indicted Trump's former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, and Manafort's former business associate Rick Gates, on 12 counts.
Paul Manafort makes his way through television cameras as he walks from Federal District Court in Washington, Monday, Oct. 30, 2017.
AP Photo/Alex Brandon
Gates flipped and pleaded guilty, and cooperated with Mueller. He testified against Manafort in the special counsel's first trial against his former mentor.
Gates was a campaign aide to Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.
Evan Vucci/AP
After multiple court cases, Manafort was sentenced to 7 1/2 years in prison after he was convicted of eight counts of tax fraud, bank fraud, failure to report foreign bank accounts, and pleaded guilty to conspiracy, and obstruction.
This courtroom sketch depicts former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, center in a wheelchair, during his sentencing hearing in federal court before judge T.S. Ellis III in Alexandria, Va., Thursday, March 7, 2019.
Associated Press
Mueller's notable prosecutorial progress with former Trump associates also includes the president's longtime personal lawyer Michael Cohen, who promised testimony about Trump's knowledge of the campaign's 2016 meeting with a Kremlin-linked lawyer.
Despite Trump's regular hits against the investigation as a "witch hunt," and other jabs against US intelligence, Mueller's team delivered over 30 indictments.
Two days later, Barr sent Congress a four-page summary of the report, concluding Trump didn't obstruct justice, and that neither Trump, nor anyone on his campaign, "conspired or coordinated with Russia" during the 2016 election.
William Barr testifies at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on his nomination to be attorney general of the United States on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., January 15, 2019.
Yuri Gripas/Reuters
The problem was that Mueller decided "not to make a traditional prosecutorial judgment" with respect to whether Trump obstructed justice. This led Democrats in Congress to demand Barr release the special counsel's report in full.
Mueller and his wife Ann depart St. John's Episcopal Church, across from the White House, in D.C. on March 24, 2019.
Associated Press
Barr said he would redact sensitive information, including grand jury information and anything that could compromise intelligence sources, but agreed to release the report.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller walks past the White House after attending services at St. John's Episcopal Church, in Washington.
AP/Cliff Owen
The release of the full report marked the end of Mueller's role in the Russia probe, which has captivated and divided the nation for roughly two years. But numerous court cases wage on, and federal prosecutors and Congressional committees are still probing, so it's not the end of the investigation yet.
On May 29, Mueller gave a press conference at the DOJ announcing his formal resignation, re-iterating the conclusions of his report's findings, and declining to voluntarily testify before Congress.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller makes a statement about the Russia investigation on May 29, 2019 at the Justice Department in Washington, DC.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Mueller made it explicitly clear that the report did not exonerate Trump, and that his office had no ability to charge Trump with a crime given existing DOJ policy prohibiting prosecutors from indicting a sitting president.
U.S. Special Counsel Mueller speaks about Russia investigation at the Justice Department in Washington
Reuters
"If we had had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so," Mueller said. "We did not, however, make a determination as to whether the president did commit a crime."
The special counsel Robert Mueller makes a statement on his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election at the Justice Department in Washington on May 29, 2019.
REUTERS/Jim Bourg
However, Trump claimed the non-determination as a victory and was backed by top Republicans who said the country needed to move on and accept the report as-is.
"Today's statement by Mr. Mueller reinforces the findings of his report," Sen. Lindsey Graham, the Senate Judiciary Committee chairman, said in a statement at the time. "And as for me, the case is over."
"Without an underlying offense or collusion, and the overwhelming cooperation by the Trump White House with the Mueller investigation, the attorney general's decision on obstruction is sound," he added. "It will be the final word in my view."
As Mueller retreated from the public eye, the majority of public opinion increasingly wondered whether Trump had "committed impeachable offenses," but House Democrats remained hesitant to impeach the president out of fear of political backlash.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif, will now have to decide whether to lead an effort to bring articles of impeachment against Trump.
Associated Press
Mueller is due to deliver his Congressional testimony on Wednesday, July 24, and though lawmakers on both sides of the aisle aren't sure what to expect, the session could greatly influence the Democrats' next move and the future of Trump's presidency.
Robert Mueller is sworn in during a hearing before the House Judiciary Committee in June 2013.
Alex Wong/Getty Images
