Robert Mueller
American attorney and sixth director of the FBI (1944–2026)
Robert Swan Mueller III (; August 7, 1944 – March 20, 2026) was an American lawyer who served as the sixth director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from 2001 to 2013.
A graduate of Princeton University and New York University, Mueller served as a U.S. Marine Corps officer during the Vietnam War, receiving a Bronze Star for heroism and a Purple Heart. He later attended the University of Virginia School of Law. Mueller was a registered Republican in Washington, D.C., and was appointed or reappointed to Senate-confirmed positions by presidents George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama.
Mueller worked in both government and private practice. He served as an Assistant U.S. attorney, a U.S. attorney, the U.S. assistant attorney general for the U.S. Department of Justice Criminal Division, a homicide prosecutor in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, acting U.S. deputy attorney general, a partner at the Washington D.C. law firm WilmerHale, and director of the FBI. He was the only FBI director permitted by Congress to serve more than the statutory 10‑year term limit since the death of J. Edgar Hoover in 1972, receiving a special two‑year extension.
In 2017, Mueller was appointed special counsel to oversee the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and related matters. He submitted his report in 2019, after which the Office of the Special Counsel was closed and Mueller resigned.
Early life and education
Robert Swan Mueller III was born on August 7, 1944, at Doctors Hospital in Manhattan, New York City, the first child of Alice C. Truesdale (1920–2007) and Robert Swan Mueller Jr. (1916–2007).
The public source identifies “Robert Mueller” as american attorney and sixth director of the FBI (1944–2026). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Robert, Mueller and American.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Robert Mueller”, the useful work is to connect “american attorney and sixth director of the FBI (1944–2026)” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q715156. VIAF identifies the subject as 107028666. The Library of Congress control number is no91025152. 3 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 1 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1944, 2026, 2001 and 2013.
Later biographies can compress uncertainty and repeat inherited reputations, so apparently settled claims may still require comparison. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.
- Establishing names and roles
- Building a first chronology
- Locating cited institutions
Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Robert Mueller”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Robert Mueller primary sources, Robert Mueller archive and Robert research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Robert Mueller”?
- How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
- Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Robert Mueller” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.