Robert Swan "Bob" Mueller III (born August 7, 1944) is an American attorney who was the sixth Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, serving from September 4, 2001 to September 4, 2013. On May 17, 2017, Mueller was appointed by the Justice Department as special counsel overseeing the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections. On May 17, 2017, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appointed Mueller to serve as special counsel for the United States Department of Justice. In this capacity, Mueller oversees the investigation into the Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections. The appointment followed a series of events which included President Trump's firing of FBI Director James Comey and allegations "that the president asked Mr. Comey to drop the bureau's investigation into his former national security adviser, Michael T. Flynn."
After leaving the FBI in 2013, Mueller served a one-year term as consulting professor and the Arthur and Frank Payne Distinguished Lecturer at Stanford University where he focused on issues related to cyber-security.[17] He gave a speech and Q&A on March 8, 2017 at Anderson University, where he stated, "For the bureau, one of the most important things is integrity." In addition to his speaking and teaching roles, Mueller also joined the law firm WilmerHale as a partner in its Washington, D.C. office in 2014. Among other roles while at the firm, he oversaw the independent investigation into video that appeared to show NFL player Ray Rice assaulting his fiancée. In January 2016, he was appointed as Settlement Master in the U.S. consumer litigation over the Volkswagen emissions scandal; as of May 11, 2017, the scandal has resulted in $11.2 billion in customer settlements.
On October 19, 2016, Mueller began an external review of "security, personnel, and management processes and practices" at government contractor Booz Allen Hamilton after an employee was indicted for massive data theft from the National Security Agency. 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. On May 17, 2017, upon his appointment as Special Counsel for the Department of Justice, he and two colleagues resigned from the firm. Mueller received the 2016 Thayer Award for public service from the United States Military Academy,[25]. He is scheduled in June to receive the 2017 Baker Award for intelligence and national security contributions from the nonprofit Intelligence and National Security Alliance.
