How Could Mueller Be Fbi Chief Again
WASHINGTON – Robert S. Mueller Iii, the old FBI managing director tapped by the Justice Department on Wednesday to exist a special counsel overseeing the Russian federation investigation, has spent virtually of his life in public service.
Mueller, 72, was named to head the FBI one week before the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks – and spent the next 12 years at the helm of the agency, a tenure second in length just to J. Edgar Hoover.
At his confirmation hearings, Mueller vowed that his highest priority would be "to restore the public'southward confidence in the FBI."
Mueller's arrival to the FBI came after turbulent times that included the agency'south deadly confrontation with Co-operative Davidians in Waco, Texas; the discovery of FBI agent-turned-Russian-spy Robert Hanssen; and the disclosure of documents withheld from lawyers representing convicted Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh. By many accounts, Mueller succeeded. When Mueller stepped down as FBI principal in 2013, he was praised by frequent FBI critic Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa., who called the New York City native "a great American."
Now, he has a new claiming: Overseeing the FBI's ongoing counterintelligence investigation into possible collusion betwixt Trump entrada associates and Russia. His appointment comes after revelations earlier this week that the abruptly fired FBI manager James Comey kept notes of a February meeting indicating Trump asked him to close the agency'south investigation into erstwhile national security adviser Michael Flynn.
Those who know him say he'due south the platonic selection. "Bob Mueller is an outstanding selection because he is apolitical and follows the rule of police force, and follows the show wherever information technology leads, regardless of political outcomes," said John Pistole, a former FBI deputy director, under Mueller.
Here are seven things to know nearly the man who volition oversee the probe into the Trump campaign's ties to Russia in last year's election:
Mueller is known for answering the phone call to public service
Mueller is an Ivy League-educated lawyer with an aristocracy prep school grounding, who was born in New York City and raised outside of Philadelphia.
He has had several successful stints of public service, including iii years as an officer in the Marine Corps. He led a rifle platoon during the Vietnam War, earning several medals, including the Purple Eye.
After earning a law degree he spent a few years in private practice before he began a 12-twelvemonth stint in U.S. attorney offices. He again went into private practise, only to return to authorities service, where he was put in charge of the Department of Justice's criminal division in 1990.
He left for private practice again and returned to become U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California where in 2001 he was tapped to become FBI director.
He headed the FBI longer than anyone since J. Edgar Hoover
After President George Due west. Bush tapped him for the top constabulary enforcement task in 2001, Mueller served through nigh of 2013 – going over the usual ten-year limit on FBI directors, which was imposed to prevent reigns every bit long every bit Hoover's 50 years. President Obama said continuity and stability was needed at the FBI at a fourth dimension when the United States faced ongoing security threats, and leadership changes at the Defense Section and Fundamental Intelligence Agency. The Senate unanimously canonical the extension of his term. He was succeeded past Comey in September 2013.
Mueller was widely praised every bit a transformative director of the FBI
Mueller assumed leadership of the FBI just weeks before suicide hijackers slammed commercial airliners into the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon in the September 11, 2001 terror attacks. During the difficult aftermath, he was widely credited with transforming the agency from a purely constabulary enforcement agency to a intelligence-driven system to face the looming terror threat. It was President George W. Bush's terse, post-9/eleven order – "Don't always let this happen again'' – that prompted Mueller's brand-over of the agency to an agency designed to thwart, rather than respond to, terror threats.
Former Attorney General John Ashcroft said dorsum in 2013 that Mueller projected an air of "full integrity" that began to restore the FBI's standing at a very critical time. Quondam Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff predicted Mueller would exist known as "the most transformative managing director in the history of the FBI since Hoover."
For a guy used to high-profile roles, Mueller doesn't like the spotlight
Though he directed the highest profile law enforcement agency during one of the most momentous times in recent U.Southward. history, Mueller has eschewed the public spotlight at almost every opportunity. He did not travel with an entourage, rarely sat for media interviews and was famous for logging grueling hours, often starting days before sunrise and leaving well afterward night.
"That'due south how he survived…because he kept a low profile," said Pistole, Mueller'due south former No. ii who now leads Indiana'southward Anderson Academy. "He would let his and the bureau's piece of work speak for itself."
Mueller'due south 'Business firm of Cards' moment as FBI director
Probably the strangest incident that Robert Mueller was part of during his tenure every bit FBI director occurred on the night of March 4, 2004.
That nighttime Mueller and James Comey, then a deputy to Attorney General John D. Ashcoft, raced, sirens blaring, to the hospital intensive care unit of measurement where Ashcroft lay ill.
They had been tipped off that White House Counsel Albert Gonzales and President George W. Bush's chief of staff, Andrew Card, were on their fashion to the infirmary in an attempt to persuade Ashcroft to reauthorize Bush's domestic surveillance plan, which the Justice Department had just determined was illegal.
Mueller and Comey won the race. Ashcroft, who was able to elevator his head and speak, refused to sign the papers that Gonzales and Card brought with them.
Mueller investigated NFL treatment of Ray Rice penalisation
Fifty-fifty in retirement, Mueller has constitute his services in steady need.
The National Football League tapped Mueller in 2014 to conduct an independent investigation into claims that league officials had received and viewed an elevator video of Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice beating his then-fiancé Janay Palmer at a casino in Atlantic City, Due north.J. in February of that year.
Mueller was called in afterwards the NFL suspended Rice for ii games but before the graphic video surfaced on the glory web site TMZ., sparking national outrage and accusations that the NFL was suppressing evidence to protect one if its star players. Once the video was released, NFL Commissioner suspended Rice indefinitely.
Later a four-month investigation, Mueller concluded that no one at the NFL headquarters had received or reviewed the tape before the initial penalization against Rice despite an Associated Printing report that an unnamed woman at the league office in New York City had best-selling receipt.
But the former FBI director also said there was "substantial information almost the incident that should have put the league on notice of a need to undertake a more than thorough investigation" that might have turned up the video earlier.
Mueller'due south integrity was tapped again recently for air bag case
Last calendar month, a federal court judge appointed Mueller to serve equally "special main" and oversee the disbursement of nigh $1 billion in restitution in the Takata Corp. instance involving lacking air bags.
Takata pleaded guilty in February to fraud charges. There accept been at least 11 deaths and 180 injuries in the United States linked to the defective air bags. The example also involves a call back of 70 million airbags in 42 million vehicles in the U.s.a..
U.Southward. District Judge George Steeh wrote in his lodge concluding month that he chose Mueller in part because of the "courtroom'due south comfort and trust in his impeccable credentials, his relevant experience in settlement negotiations, his familiarity with the automotive industry in general, and based upon his well-known reputation for integrity."
Mueller was also named the "settlement main" in 2016 to negotiate settlements in the Volkswagen backlog diesel emissions scandal.
Read more:
Inside the White Firm the nighttime DOJ appointed a special counsel for Russian federation inquiry
Analysis: For Donald Trump, Robert Mueller offers short-term relief, long term hazard
Justice Department taps former FBI Director Robert Mueller as special counsel for Russia investigation
Rare bipartisan moment: Both sides embrace Robert Mueller as special counsel
Source: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/05/17/7-things-know-robert-mueller-new-special-counsel-russia-investigation/101811990/
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