Trump brought Dowd in to lead his legal defense team one month after the president fired FBI Director James Comey and Mueller was subsequently appointed to serve as the special counsel overseeing the widening probe into Russian interference. (MORE: TRANSCRIPT: Former Trump attorney John Dowd's interview on ABC News' 'The Investigation' podcast)
Robert Mueller | |
---|---|
Preceded by | Louis Freeh |
Succeeded by | James Comey |
Acting United States Deputy Attorney General | |
In office January 20, 2001 – May 10, 2001 |
· Special Counsel Robert Mueller has surrounded himself with over a dozen top-notch lawyers since he was named to take on the investigation into Russian election meddling any any ties to Trump...
· Oct. 1, 2019, 9:21 AM PDT. By Tom Winter. Former special counsel Robert Mueller has returned to his old law firm after spending more than two years away investigating Russian interference in the ...
· Fair, tough smart,” after he was brought on by Mueller. Goldstein contributed a combined $3,300 to Obama’s campaigns in 2008 and 2012. PROSECUTOR FROM TRUMP …
· Donald Trump Mueller's scorecard: Who's been convicted, sentenced Paul Manafort, who got 47 months in prison on Thursday, is one of seven people convicted to date …
· Having served for decades in law enforcement, Mr. Mueller was previously best known for his 12 years as the director of the F.B.I., where he reshaped the bureau to fight …
In 2020, Weissmann returned to Jenner & Block as co-chair of its investigations, compliance and defense practice.
ProsecutorRobert Mueller / ProfessionA prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the common law adversarial system or the civil law inquisitorial system. The prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the case in a criminal trial against an individual accused of breaking the law. Wikipedia
Ann Cabell StandishRobert Mueller / Wife (m. 1966)
Cynthia MuellerMelissa MuellerRobert Mueller/Daughters
Rod Jay Rosenstein (/ˈroʊzənˌstaɪn/; born January 13, 1965) is an American attorney who served as the 37th United States deputy attorney general from April 2017 until May 2019. Prior to his appointment, he served as a United States attorney for the District of Maryland.
6′ 8″James B. Comey / Height
Robert MuellerChildren2EducationPrinceton University (BA) New York University (MA) University of Virginia (JD)SignatureMilitary service47 more rows
The FBI is led by a Director, who is appointed by the U.S. President and confirmed by the Senate for a term not to exceed 10 years. The current Director is Christopher Wray. You can find information on all Directors who have served the FBI on our History website.
John P. O'NeillDiedSeptember 11, 2001 (aged 49) New York City, New York, U.S.Cause of deathCollapse of the World Trade CenterEducationAmerican University (BA) George Washington University (MS)OccupationFBI special agent, World Trade Center security head2 more rows
Federal Bureau of Investigation directors (1935–present)No.NameTerm6Robert MuellerSeptember 4, 2001 – September 4, 20137James ComeySeptember 4, 2013 – May 9, 2017—Andrew McCabe (Acting)May 9, 2017 – August 2, 20178Christopher A. WrayAugust 2, 2017 – Present25 more rows
77 years (August 7, 1944)Robert Mueller / Age
While some people argue the German pronunciation is MEW-ller, you may have heard us explain that MILL-er is how Robert Mueller pronounced his name. So while you'll hear us say MILL-er, as some of our T-shirts say, call it MEW-ller or call it MILL-er, just call it home.
The FBI is led by a Director, who is appointed by the U.S. President and confirmed by the Senate for a term not to exceed 10 years. The current Director is Christopher Wray. You can find information on all Directors who have served the FBI on our History website.
Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation2001–2013Acting United States Deputy Attorney General2001–2001United States Attorney for the Northern District of California1998–2001United States Assistant Attorney General1990–1993Robert Mueller/Previous offices
Federal Bureau of Investigation directors (1935–present)No.NameTerm6Robert MuellerSeptember 4, 2001 – September 4, 20137James ComeySeptember 4, 2013 – May 9, 2017—Andrew McCabe (Acting)May 9, 2017 – August 2, 20178Christopher A. WrayAugust 2, 2017 – Present25 more rows
77 years (August 7, 1944)Robert Mueller / Age
On May 17, 2017, Mueller was appointed by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein as special counsel overseeing an investigation into allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and related matters. He submitted his report to Attorney General William Barr on March 22, 2019.
Robert Swan Mueller III ( / ˈmʌlər /; born August 7, 1944) is an American lawyer and government official who served as the sixth director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from 2001 to 2013.
The 12 charges include conspiracy to launder money, violations of the 1938 Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) as being an unregistered agent of a foreign principal, false and misleading FARA statements, and conspiracy against the United States.
Mueller and William Barr —the attorney general who supervised the late stage of Mueller's special counsel investigation—have known each other since the 1980s and have been described as good friends. Mueller attended the weddings of two of Barr's daughters, and their wives attend Bible study together.
Mueller informed the American public that " [s]even countries designated as state sponsors of terrorism—Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Libya, Cuba, and North Korea —remain active in the United States and continue to support terrorist groups that have targeted Americans. As Director Tenet has pointed out, Secretary Powell presented evidence last week that Baghdad has failed to disarm its weapons of mass destruction, willfully attempting to evade and deceive the international community. Our particular concern is that Saddam Hussein may supply terrorists with biological, chemical or radiological material." Highlighting this worry in February 2003, FBI Special Agent Coleen Rowley wrote an open letter to Mueller in which she warned that "the bureau will [not] be able to stem the flood of terrorism that will likely head our way in the wake of an attack on Iraq" and encouraged Mueller to "share [her concerns] with the President and Attorney General."
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.
After graduating from St. Paul's, Mueller entered Princeton University, where he continued to play lacrosse, receiving a Bachelor of Arts in politics in 1966 after completing a senior thesis titled "Acceptance of Jurisdiction in the South West Africa Cases." Mueller was a member of University Cottage Club while he was a student at Princeton. Mueller earned a Master of Arts in international relations from New York University in 1967.
Goldstein contributed a combined $3,300 to Obama’s campaigns in 2008 and 2012.
Federal prosecutor Andrew Weissmann (C) is flanked by FBI agents as he speaks to the press outside the federal courthouse in Houston, Texas about the latest round of indictments stemming from the collapse of Enron, May 1, 2003. Also Lea Fastow, wife of Enron Chief Financial Officer Andrew Fastow, is expected to be indicted on tax and mail fraud. REUTERS/Jeff Mitchell JM/ME - RTRMRJX (REUTERS)
Jed’s notable casework includes arguing in defense of then-secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius in 2014 in the Supreme Court case of Little Sisters of the Poor v. Sebelius. The case challenged the contraceptive insurance requirement under ObamaCare. Jed also argued, before the Supreme Court, to strike down the definition of marriage between a man and a woman in the Defense of Marriage Act in the United States v. Windsor.
Conway said the donations are “relevant information for people to have.”
There is no shortage of examples to fuel the president's case.
President Donald Trump has called it "a witch hunt," but special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation has already resulted in seven guilty pleas and one conviction at trial, with a cast of defendants that include Trump's former campaign chairman, ex-national security adviser and onetime personal lawyer.
In all, 34 people and three companies have been criminally charged as a result of the probe. Mueller was named special counsel in May 2017 by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, and directed to investigate "any links and/or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump" ...
Van der Zwaan has been accused of lying to investigators about his interactions with Rick Gates, who was indicted last year along with Paul Manafort, President Donald Trump's campaign chairman, on charges of conspiracy to launder money and acting as an unregistered foreign agent. Susan Walsh / AP file.
Paul Manafort. He ran Trump's campaign for part of 2016 and was convicted in August on five counts of tax fraud, one count of failure to file a report of foreign bank and financial accounts and two counts of bank fraud. Prosecutors said he'd hidden millions of dollars overseas.
District Court in Washington, on Sept. 7, 2018. Yuri Gripas / Reuters.
He was sentenced to six months in federal lockup and six months of home confinement for selling bank account and other stolen identity information to a group of Russians accused of interfering in the election. The Russians allegedly used the information to create fake online identities.
A top Trump surrogate and foreign policy adviser during the 2016 campaign who admitted to lying to the FBI about the substance of his conversations with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak during his brief stint as national security adviser. He's expected to be sentenced later this year.
Mueller has pursued a basic set of questions: How did Russia, on the orders of President Vladimir V. Putin, wage a campaign to illegally influence the 2016 presidential race? Did any Trump associates conspire with Russia’s interference? Has President Trump tried to obstruct the inquiry?
He also played a role in the sentencing of Richard Pinedo, a California man who unwittingly aided the interference. The son of a journalist, Mr. Atkinson is one of the youngest members of the Mueller team. He graduated from law school eight years ago and joined the Justice Department’s national security division.
The second indictment accused 12 Russian intelligence officers in the hacking of the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign.
They come from familiar places: the Justice Department’s criminal division, federal prosecutors’ offices in New York and around Washington and a law firm where Mr. Mueller worked.
Prelogar deferred her admission to Harvard Law School to pursue a Fulbright scholarship in St. Petersburg, Russia, and went on to clerk for two Supreme Court justices, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Elena Kagan. She also once competed in the Miss America pageant as Miss Idaho.
One of the highest-profile prosecutors working for Mr. Mueller, Mr. Weissmann has prosecuted Mafia bosses and led the task force investigating Enron more than a decade ago. He specializes in flipping witnesses and oversaw or took part in almost every early aspect of the special counsel’s investigation, including Mr. Manafort’s prosecution and the case against Mr. van der Zwaan. Mr. Weissmann’ s aggressive tactics have prompted criticism, but some defense lawyers have noted his compassionate side, and his interests outside work extend to sports — he once attended tennis camp as an adult.
Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel, has marshaled prosecutors, F.B.I. agents and other lawyers to investigate Russia’s 2016 election interference and whether any Trump associates conspired. The team has secured indictments against dozens of people and three companies, one trial conviction and a handful of guilty pleas in the highest-profile political inquiry in a generation.
In March 2020, federal judge Reggie Walton, appointed to his position by President George W. Bush, declared that he would personally review the redactions made in the Mueller report to ensure that the redactions were legitimate. This came during a lawsuit filed by the pro-transparency Electronic Privacy Information Center and media outlet BuzzFeed News to release the full, unredacted report under the Freedom of Information Act. Walton cited that he had concerns on whether the redactions were legitimate, due to Attorney General William Barr having displayed a "lack of candor" regarding the report.
Democrat Ted Lieu asked Mueller whether the reason he did not indict Trump was that Department of Justice policy prohibits the indictment of sitting presidents. Mueller originally confirmed that this was the reason. However, later that day, Mueller corrected his comments, stating that his team did not determine whether Trump committed a crime. Additionally, Mueller answered Republican Ken Buck that a president could be charged with obstruction of justice (or other crimes) after the president left office.
This was first reported on April 30, 2019. Mueller thought that the Barr letter "did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance" of the findings of the special counsel investigation that he led. "There is now public confusion about critical aspects of the results of our investigation". Mueller also requested Barr release the Mueller report's introductions and executive summaries. The March 27 Mueller letter made no mention of media coverage.
In July 2019, Mueller testified to Congress that a president could be charged with crimes including obstruction of justice after the president left office. In 2020, a Republican-appointed federal judge decided to personally review the report's redactions to see if they were legitimate.
According to its authorizing document, which was signed by then-Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein on May 17, 2017, the investigation's scope included allegations that there were links or coordination between President Donald Trump 's presidential campaign and the Russian government as well as "any matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation". The authorizing document also included "any other matters within the scope of 28 CFR § 600.4 (a) "; enabling the special counsel "to investigate and prosecute" any attempts to interfere with its investigation, "such as perjury, obstruction of justice, destruction of evidence, and intimidation of witnesses ".
The report was submitted to Attorney General William Barr on March 22, 2019, and a redacted version of the 448-page report was publicly released by the Department of Justice (DOJ) on April 18, 2019. It is divided into two volumes.
After the Special Counsel concluded its investigation on March 22, Barr sent Congress a four-page letter about the Special Counsel's conclusions on March 24. On April 30, it was reported Mueller sent a letter to Barr on March 27, that expressed concerns about his four-page letter to Congress. Barr called Mueller to discuss about the letter and its contents.
Over the course of his nearly two-year-long probe, special counsel Robert Mueller and his team of prosecutors have now indicted 34 individuals and three Russian businesses on charges ranging from computer hacking to conspiracy and financial crimes.
Trump’s former personal attorney and long-time fixer, pleaded guilty to one count of making false statements to Congress, a crime punishable by up to five years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000.
Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort faced charges in two separate federal courts on a slew of financial crime charges related largely to his lobbying work in Ukraine.
George Papadopoulos, the novice, unpaid foreign policy adviser to Donald Trump was secretly arrested for lying to FBI investigators about his correspondence with foreign nationals with close ties to senior Russian government officials. His indictment was revealed to the public after he pleaded guilty in October 2017.
Rick Gates, a former Trump campaign official and longtime business associate of Paul Manafort, was charged in two separate federal courts in connection to financial crimes, unregistered foreign lobbying and on allegations that he made false statements to federal prosecutors.
Earlier that year, he had pleaded guilty to lying to federal agents about his contacts with Trump campaign deputy chair Rick Gates in September 2016. He reported to prison in May 2018 and was released the next month. Read more here.
Stone was convicted on all counts on Nov. 15 and faces up to 50 years in prison. Read more here.
Weissmann blames this persistent timidity on one of Mueller’s other top deputies, a lawyer named Aaron Zebley, comparing Zebley to George B. McClellan (and more zealous team members, including himself, to Ulysses S. Grant). “Repeatedly during our twenty-two months in operation,” Weissmann writes, “we would reach some critical juncture in our ...
The Mueller inquiry was the greatest potential check on Trump’s abuse of power. The press gives the president fits, but almost half the country chooses not to believe the news. Congress will protect Trump as long as his party controls at least one chamber. Local prosecutors and civil plaintiffs are severely limited in pursuing justice against a sitting president. Public opinion is immovably split and powerless until the next election. Only the Special Counsel’s Office—burrowing into the criminal matter of Russian interference in the 2016 election, a possible conspiracy with the Trump campaign, and the president’s subsequent attempts to block an investigation—offered the prospect of accountability for Trump. Mueller couldn’t try the president in court, let alone send him to prison, but he could fully expose Trump’s wrongdoing for a future prosecutor, using the enforceable power of a grand jury subpoena. The whole constitutional superstructure of checks and balances rested on Mueller and his team. As their work dragged on through 2017 and 2018, with flurries of indictments and plea deals but otherwise in utter silence, many Americans invested the inquiry with the outsized expectation that it would somehow bring Trump down.
In Where Law Ends, Weissmann reveals that the real reason for not compelling the president to be interviewed was Mueller’s aversion to having an explosive confrontation with the White House. On the obstruction of justice, Mueller declined to make a determination because of a long-standing Justice Department policy that a sitting president cannot be indicted. Mueller, judging that Trump wouldn’t have his day in court until he became a private citizen again, refrained from stating that Trump had broken the law (even though volume one of the report explicitly cleared the president of the conspiracy charge).
The lesson Trump took from the Mueller investigation was that he could do anything he wanted. He declared himself vindicated, vowed to pursue the pursuers, and immediately turned to extorting favors for another election from another foreign country. Uproar over “Russiagate” gave way to uproar over “Ukrainegate.”.
Mueller, completely out of character, was “making his own, freelance judgments about what was appropriate and not delivering on what he was tasked with doing.”. Weissmann made these arguments to the lawyer whom Mueller had assigned to draft this tricky passage of the report.
Suddenly, in March 2019, the Special Counsel’s Office completed its work. A report, hundreds of pages long, with many lines blacked out, was delivered to the attorney general.
When Mueller was appointed special counsel in May 2017, he chose Weissmann to lead “Team M”—the group responsible for the case against Paul Manafort, Trump’s corrupt former campaign chairman. Theirs was the most straightforward part of the investigation; they produced an early indictment and, ultimately, a conviction of Manafort on tax fraud ...