President Donald Trump responded with glee to the death of an American hero whom the president turned into a political enemy.
Former special counsel Robert Mueller died at age 81 on Friday night, according to his family. Mueller, a Bronze Star combat veteran known for his devout faith, devotion to his family, and public service, led the probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election, earning the ire of Trump.
“With deep sadness, we are sharing the news that Bob passed away,” his family said in a statement on Saturday. “His family asks that their privacy be respected.”
The cause of death was not immediately clear, but sources told MS Now that Mueller had been suffering from Parkinson’s disease for years.
“Robert Mueller just died. Good, I’m glad he’s dead. He can no longer hurt innocent people!” Trump wrote in a bitter Truth Social post from Mar-a-Lago, where he spent yet another weekend partying as the Iran war raged on. At least 13 U.S. service members have been killed during the conflict.
Trump has despised Mueller since the storied former FBI director was appointed special counsel for the investigation into the ties between his 2016 presidential campaign and Russian officials.
The first of five children, Mueller volunteered for the Marines soon after he graduated from Princeton in 1966. Over three years, he rose through the ranks to become the leader of a rifle platoon of the Third Marine Division in Vietnam.
“I’m most proud the Marines Corps deemed me worthy of leading other Marines,” he told journalist Garrett Graft in 2009. He later received the Bronze Star, two Navy Commendation Medals, the Purple Heart, and the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry.
Like Trump, who is only two years his junior, Mueller was also born in New York City and received an Ivy League education. The president, however, notoriously dodged the draft five times, once on account of his bone spurs.
Mueller went on to study law at the University of Virginia after leaving the military. After earning his degree in 1973, he spent more than a decade in U.S. Attorney’s Offices and became an assistant to Attorney General Richard Thornburgh in 1989.
Mueller held Senate-confirmed positions under four different administrations, split evenly between Republicans and Democrats.
In 2001, just a week before the Sept. 11 attacks, Mueller became the sixth director of the FBI following his nomination by then-President George W. Bush. He would go on to become the second-longest serving FBI director after the legendary Edgar J. Hoover, earning acclaim for transforming the bureau and exposing abuses at the CIA’s secret prisons for terrorism suspects.
Mueller married Ann Cabell Standish in 1966. They share two daughters, including one who was born with spina bifida, a congenital condition affecting the spine. Friends told The Washingtonian that Mueller once moved to Boston so that he could get his daughter good treatment at Boston Children’s Hospital.
Known for being reclusive and keeping a low profile, Mueller found himself at the center of attention when he was appointed special counsel to investigate Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
When Trump was alerted to Mueller’s appointment in May 2017, he slumped into his chair, according to the special report released two years later.
“Oh my God. This is terrible,” Trump was quoted as saying. “This is the end of my presidency. I’m f—-d.”
Hours before the release of his special report, Mueller attended morning service at St. John’s Episcopal Church near the White House with his wife.
The report ultimately found no evidence that Trump and his campaign helped Moscow interfere in the 2016 polls. Mueller also concluded that he could neither accuse nor exonerate Trump of a crime.
But the probe nonetheless solidified Trump’s hatred of Mueller, which evidently lasted the duration of the former special counsel’s life.
Andrew McCabe, a former FBI deputy director who was similarly targeted by Trump, hailed Mueller as an exemplary public servant.
“He was just an absolute American hero and an American patriot,” he told CNN on Saturday.
