On March 20 local time, former US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Robert Mueller passed away at the age of 81. US President Donald Trump responded, "I'm glad he's dead."
According to foreign media reports, Mueller served as FBI director for 12 years, from 2001 to 2013. In May 2017, after Trump fired FBI Director James B. Comey, the Department of Justice appointed Mueller as special counsel to take over the "Russia" investigation. When Trump learned of that appointment, he reportedly slumped into his chair and said, "Oh my God. This is terrible. This is the end of my presidency. I'm finished, I'm finished."
The BBC reported that Trump tried to remove Mueller and made multiple attempts to influence the investigation. He repeatedly — reportedly hundreds of times — characterized Mueller's probe as "political persecution," a "hoax," and a "witch hunt."
In April 2019, Mueller released a 448-page report saying the Russian government had interfered in the 2016 US presidential election in "sweeping and systematic" ways and "identified numerous links between the Russian government and the Trump campaign." Those links included business connections, offers of assistance to the campaign, invitations for then-candidate Trump to meet with Vladimir Putin, and meetings between campaign associates and representatives of the Russian government. However, the investigation did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities.
After learning of Mueller's death, Trump posted on the social platform Truth Social: "Robert Mueller just died. Good, I'm glad he's dead. He can no longer hurt innocent people!"
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