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Revision as of 12:24, 18 May 2017 by 134.226.72.34 (talk) (→Federal Bureau of Investigation: - changed 'Twilliger' to Terwilliger)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)For the former airport in Austin, Texas, see Robert Mueller Municipal Airport. For other people with this name and similar spellings, see Robert Muller (disambiguation).
Robert Swan "Bob" Mueller III (born August 7, 1944) is an American attorney who was the sixth Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, serving from September 4, 2001 to September 4, 2013.
On May 17, 2017, Mueller was appointed by the Justice Department as special counsel overseeing the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections.
Early life and military service
Mueller was born on August 7, 1944, in New York City. He is the son of Alice C. (née Truesdale) and Robert Swan Mueller. Mueller grew up outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He graduated from St. Paul's School in 1962, where he was captain of the soccer, hockey, and lacrosse teams, and won the Gordon Medal as the School's top athlete in 1962.
He went on to study at Princeton University (receiving an A.B. in 1966), where he continued to play lacrosse; he has cited his teammate David Spencer Hackett's death in the Vietnam War as an influence on his decision to pursue military service. Hackett was a Marine Corps First Lieutenant in the infantry and was killed in 1967 by small arms fire. Mueller earned an M.A. in international relations from New York University in 1967 and a Juris Doctor from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1973, where he served on the Virginia Law Review.
Mueller enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in 1968, attending officer candidate school, Army Ranger School and Army jump school. He then served as an officer leading a rifle platoon of the 3rd Marine Division during the Vietnam War; he eventually became aide-de-camp to 3rd Marine Division's commanding general. He received the Bronze Star, two Commendation Medals, the Purple Heart and the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry.
Law career
After receiving his law degree in 1973, Mueller worked as a litigator at the firm Pillsbury, Madison and Sutro in San Francisco until 1976. He then served for 12 years in United States Attorney offices. He first worked in the office of the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California in San Francisco, where he rose to be chief of the criminal division, and in 1982, he moved to Boston to work in the office of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts as Assistant United States Attorney, where he investigated and prosecuted major financial fraud, terrorism and public corruption cases, as well as narcotics conspiracies and international money launderers.
After serving as a partner at the Boston law firm of Hill and Barlow, Mueller returned to government service. In 1989, he served in the United States Department of Justice as an assistant to Attorney General Dick Thornburgh. The following year he took charge of its criminal division. During his tenure, he oversaw prosecutions that included Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega, the Pan Am Flight 103 (Lockerbie bombing) case, and the Gambino crime family boss John Gotti. In 1991, he was elected a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers.
In 1993, Mueller became a partner at Boston's Hale and Dorr, specializing in white-collar crime litigation. He returned to public service in 1995 as senior litigator in the homicide section of the District of Columbia United States Attorney's Office. In 1998, Mueller was named U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California and held that position until 2001.
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Mueller was nominated for the position of FBI Director by President George W. Bush on July 5, 2001. At the time, he and two other candidates, Washington lawyer George J. Terwilliger III and veteran Chicago prosecutor and white-collar defense lawyer Dan Webb were up for the job, but Mueller was always considered the front runner. Terwilliger and Webb both pulled out from consideration around mid-June. Confirmation hearings for Mueller, in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee, were quickly set for July 30, only three days before his prostate cancer surgery. The vote on the Senate floor on August 2, 2001, passed unanimously, 98–0. He served as Acting Deputy Attorney General of the United States Department of Justice for several months, before officially becoming the FBI Director on September 4, 2001, just one week before the September 11 attacks against the United States.
In May 2011, President Obama asked Director Mueller to continue at the helm of the FBI for two additional years beyond his normal 10-year term, which was expiring on September 4, 2011. The Senate approved this request on July 27, 2011. On September 4, 2013, Mueller was replaced by James Comey.
Director Mueller, along with Deputy Attorney General James B. Comey, threatened to resign from office in March 2004 if the White House overruled a Department of Justice finding that domestic wiretapping without a court warrant was unconstitutional. Attorney General John D. Ashcroft denied his consent to attempts by White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card and White House Counsel Alberto R. Gonzales to waive the Justice Department ruling and permit the domestic warrantless eavesdropping program to proceed. On March 12, 2004, President George W. Bush gave his support to changes in the program sufficient to satisfy the concerns of Mueller, Ashcroft and Comey.
Post-FBI career
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After leaving the FBI in 2013, Mueller served a one-year term as consulting professor and the Arthur and Frank Payne Distinguished Lecturer at Stanford University where he focused on issues related to cyber-security. He gave a speech and Q&A on March 8, 2017 at Anderson University, where he stated, "For the bureau, one of the most important things is integrity."
In addition to his speaking and teaching roles, Mueller also joined the law firm WilmerHale as a partner in its Washington, D.C. office in 2014.. Among other roles while at the firm, he oversaw the independent investigation into video that appeared to show NFL player Ray Rice assaulting his fiancée. In January 2016, he was appointed as Settlement Master in the U.S. consumer litigation over the Volkswagen emissions scandal; as of May 11, 2017, the scandal has resulted in $11.2 billion in customer settlements. On October 19, 2016, Mueller began an external review of "security, personnel, and management processes and practices" at government contractor Booz Allen Hamilton after an employee was indicted for massive data theft from the National Security Agency. On April 6, 2017, he was appointed as Special Master for disbursement of $850 million and $125 million for automakers and consumers, respectively, affected by rupture-prone Takata airbags.
Mueller received the 2016 Thayer Award for public service from the United States Military Academy,. He is scheduled in June to receive the 2017 Baker Award for intelligence and national security contributions from the nonprofit Intelligence and National Security Alliance.
On May 17, 2017, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appointed Mueller to serve as special counsel for the United States Department of Justice. In this capacity, Mueller oversees the investigation into the Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections. The appointment followed a series of events which included President Trump's firing of FBI Director James Comey and allegations "that the president asked Mr. Comey to drop the bureau's investigation into his former national security adviser, Michael T. Flynn." Upon his appointment as Special Counsel, he and two colleagues (former FBI agent Aaron Zebley and former assistant special prosecutor on the Watergate Special Prosecution Force James Quarles) resigned from WilmerHale.
References
- "FBI Nominee Lauded for Tenacity". The Washington Post. July 30, 2001. Retrieved May 17, 2017.
- ^ Arthur Holst, "Mueller, Robert S. (August 7, 1944-)" in Spies, Wiretaps, and Secret Operations: An Encyclopedia of American Espionage (Vol. 1: A-J), ed. Glenn P. Hastedt (ABC-CLIO, 2011), p. 528.
- "Robert Swan Mueller III". Chicago Sun-Times. July 30, 2001. Retrieved December 2, 2007.
- "FBI Director Mueller '62 Returns to Concord". St. Paul's School. May 28, 2008. Retrieved May 17, 2017.
- "Award winners Mueller '66 and Jackson *86 highlight Alumni Day". Princeton Alumni Weekly. January 21, 2016. Retrieved May 17, 2017.
- "FBI Director Robert Mueller to Receive Thomas Jefferson Foundation Medal in Law". University of Virginia School of Law. March 4, 2013. Retrieved May 17, 2017.
- ^ Shannon, Elaine (July 6, 2001). "Robert Mueller: Straight Shooter With a Moving Target". Time. ISSN 0040-781X. Retrieved May 17, 2017.
- "Remarks by the President in Nominating Robert S. Mueller as Director of the FBI". The White House. July 5, 2001. Retrieved September 28, 2007.
- "Bush Names Mueller FBI Director". United Press. June 6, 2001. Archived from the original on January 29, 2013. Retrieved June 10, 2006.
- "Senate hearing set July 30 for FBI choice Mueller". CNN. June 18, 2001. Retrieved June 10, 2006.
- "FBI director-designate has prostate cancer". CNN. June 13, 2001. Retrieved June 10, 2006.
- "Robert S. Mueller, III, to be Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation" (Plain Text). United States Senate. August 2, 2001. Retrieved June 10, 2006.
- "FBI Director to stay in post for another 2 years". CNN. May 12, 2011. Retrieved May 12, 2011.
- "Senate Extends Term of F.B.I. Director". New York Times. July 27, 2011. Retrieved September 13, 2011.
- "FBI — James B. Comey Sworn in as FBI Director". FBI. Retrieved June 14, 2015.
- ^ Eggen, Dan; Kane, Paul (May 16, 2007). "Gonzales Hospital Episode Detailed". Washington Post. Retrieved September 28, 2007.
- Gorlick, Adam (November 5, 2013). "Former FBI director to bolster security research at Stanford" (Press release). Stanford, California: Stanford University. Retrieved April 22, 2016.
- Stephens, Christopher (March 9, 2017). "Integrity is Integral, Former FBI Director Robert Mueller Says". Government Technology. The Herald Bulletin.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - "Former Director of the FBI Robert Mueller III Joins WilmerHale" (Press release). Wilmer Hale. March 24, 2014. Retrieved April 22, 2016.
- Mueller, Robert (January 8, 2015). "REPORT TO THE NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE OF AN INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATION INTO THE RAY RICE INCIDENT" (PDF). WilmerHale. National Football League.
- "VW's emissions-cheating settlement for 3-liter vehicles gets judge's approval". Los Angeles Times. Associated Press. May 11, 2017.
- Uchill, Joe (October 27, 2016). "Booz Allen announces external review following stolen documents by contractor". The Hill.
- Spector, Mike (April 6, 2017). "Former FBI Director Robert Mueller to Oversee Takata Compensation Funds". Wall Street Journal.
- "ROBERT S. MUELLER III RECEIVES 2016 THAYER AWARD". West Point Association of Graduates. 2016.
- "ROBERT MUELLER TO RECEIVE 2017 WILLIAM OLIVER BAKER AWARD". Intelligence and National Security Alliance. February 28, 2017.
- Ruiz, Rebecca R. (May 17, 2017). "Robert Mueller, Former F.B.I. Director, Named Special Counsel for Russia Investigation". The New York Times. Retrieved May 17, 2017.
- Taylor, Jessica; Johnson, Carrie (May 17, 2017). "Former FBI Director Mueller Appointed As Special Counsel To Oversee Russia Probe". NPR.
Further reading
- Graff, Garrett (August 1, 2008). "The Ultimate G-Man: Robert Mueller Remakes the FBI". Washingtonian.
- Graff, Garrett (September 1, 2008). "Robert Mueller: Taking on the Terrorists". Washingtonian.
External links
- Profile at the Federal Bureau of Investigation and staff
- Appearances on C-SPAN
- Robert Mueller on Charlie Rose
- Robert Mueller at IMDb
- Template:Worldcat id
- Robert Mueller collected news and commentary at The New York Times
- Template:WSJ topic
| Legal offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded byBill Weld | United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts Acting 1986–1987 |
Succeeded byFrank L. McNamara |
| Preceded byEdward Dennis | United States Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division 1990–1993 |
Succeeded byJo Ann Harris |
| Preceded byMichael Yamaguchi | United States Attorney for the Northern District of California 1998–2001 |
Succeeded byKevin Ryan |
| Preceded byEric Holder | United States Deputy Attorney General Acting 2001 |
Succeeded byLarry Thompson |
| Government offices | ||
| Preceded byThomas Pickard Acting |
Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation 2001–2013 |
Succeeded byJames Comey |
| Directors of the Federal Bureau of Investigation | ||
|---|---|---|
| Bureau of Investigation |  | |
| Federal Bureau of Investigation | ||
| Italics denotes an Acting Director. | ||
- Current events from May 2017
- 1944 births
- American military personnel of the Vietnam War
- American people of German descent
- Assistant United States Attorneys
- Directors of the FBI
- Identity theft victims
- Living people
- New York University alumni
- People from Pennsylvania
- Princeton University alumni
- Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections
- St. Paul's School (Concord, New Hampshire) alumni
- United States Assistant Attorneys General
- United States Attorneys for the Northern District of California
- United States Marine Corps officers
- University of Virginia School of Law alumni