April 18, 2019: The Report On The Investigation Into Russian Interference In The 2016 Presidential Election is released. Better known as the Mueller Report, for the man who led the investigation, millions of Americans were counting on it to hold Donald Trump accountable.
Their hopes were not realized.
Robert Swan Mueller III was born on August 7, 1944 in Manhattan, and grew up in Princeton, New Jersey. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Princeton University and a master’s agree from New York University (NYU), and married Ann Cabell Standish, who became a special-education teacher. They went on to have 2 daughters and 3 grandchildren.
"Bob," or, for the Roman numeral III after his name, "Bobby Three Sticks," enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps in 1966. Serving in the Vietnam War, he rose to the rank of Captain, and received several decorations, including the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart.
Returning to civilian life, he earned a law degree from the University of Virginia in 1973. After 3 years of private practice, he worked in the office of the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California, which includes the San Francisco Bay Area. In 1982, he became Assistant U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts, and was appointed full U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts by President Ronald Reagan in 1986. He investigated and prosecuted major financial fraud, terrorism, and public corruption cases, as well as narcotics conspiracies and international money‑laundering operations.
In 1990, President George H.W. Bush appointed him U.S. Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division, where he headed the prosecution of former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega and Gambino crime family boss John Gotti. With the end of the Bush Administration in 1993, he was hired by one of America's foremost law firms, Hale and Dorr, specializing in white-collar crime investigation. In 1998, President Bill Clinton crossed party lines to appoint him U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California.
In 2001, President George W. Bush appointed him Deputy Attorney General, and then as Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Exactly 7 days after he took office as FBI Director, the 9/11 attacks occurred. In spite of this and other challenges to his tenure, his work was so exemplary that both Bush and President Barack Obama appointed him to new terms. He stepped down in 2013, after 12 years, longer than anyone has held the job except for J. Edgar Hoover.
He was trusted and admired by people in both parties. So when Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein had to appoint someone to be the Special Counsel for the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the various criminal accusations against Donald Trump, including charges that he and the Russian government had interfered in the 2016 Presidential election to get Trump to "win" it, he was an easy choice. He was everything Trump was not: Brave in war, a dedicated public servant in peace, a faithful husband, a good father, and honest and successful in everything he'd ever done. The faith that Democrats, and "Never Trump Republicans," had in him was huge.
And it looked like he was making progress. The evidence he found resulted in guilty plea agreements with former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, Trump campaign aides Paul Manafort and Rick Gates, and former Trump attorney Alex van der Zwaan.
On March 22, 2019, Mueller issued his report, saying, "There were multiple, systematic efforts to interfere in our election. That allegation deserves the attention of every American." But, devastatingly, he added, "If we had had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so. We did not, however, make a determination as to whether the president did commit a crime." Adding, "While this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him" did little to soften the disappointment that millions of Americans felt.
In the end, Mueller decided to accept as policy a Department of Justice memo, written in 1973, during the Watergate scandal that ended the Nixon Administration -- a memo which has no force of law -- that a sitting President cannot be indicted. At the moment when we most needed him to be a soldier for democracy, he decided to follow orders. He was a good soldier, instead of a good lawyer. He let us all down, perhaps more so than any American ever has.
UPDATE: Mueller died on March 20, 2026, at the age of 81, in Charlottesville, Virginia, where he had returned to the University of Virginia to teach. Following his death, Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social, "Good, I'm glad he's dead. He can no longer hurt innocent people!"
Robert Mueller may have let innocent people down, but he never hurt any.
*
April 18, 2019 was a Thursday. These games were played in Major League Baseball:
* The New York Yankees lost to the Kansas City Royals, 6-1 at Yankee Stadium. Homer Bailey outpitched Domingo Germán. Jorge Soler and Ryan O'Hearn hit home runs for the Royals. For the Yankees, Aaron Judge went 1-for-4.
* The Washington Nationals beat the San Francisco Giants, 4-2 at Nationals Park in Washington.
* The Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Atlanta Braves, 4-1 at Truist Park in the Atlanta suburb of Cumberland, Georgia.
* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Tampa Bay Rays, 6-5 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. Joey Rickard doubled Chris Davis home with the winning run in the top of the 11th inning.
* The Detroit Tigers beat the Chicago White Sox, 9-7 at Comerica Park in Detroit.
* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 3-1 at Miller Park (now American Family Field) in Milwaukee.
* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Minnesota Twins, 7-4 at Target Field in Minneapolis.
* The Colorado Rockies beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 6-2 at Coors Field in Denver.
* The Cincinnati Reds beat the San Diego Padres, 4-1 at Petco Park in San Diego.
* And the Seattle Mariners beat the Los Angeles Angels, 11-10 at Angel Stadium in Anaheim.
Football was out of season. There were 3 games in the NBA Playoffs:
* The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Brooklyn Nets, 131-115 at the Barclays Center. Ben Simmons scored 31 points for the Sixers.
* The San Antonio Spurs beat the Denver Nuggets, 118-108 at the AT&T Center (now the Frost Bank Center) in San Antonio. Derrick White scored 36 for the Spurs.
* And the Golden State Warriors beat the Los Angeles Clippers, 132-105 at the Staples Center (now the Crypto.com Arena) in Los Angeles. Kevin Durant scored 38 points for the Dubs.
And there were 3 games in the Stanley Cup Playoffs:
* The Carolina Hurricanes beat the Washington Capitals, 2-1 at the PNC Arena (now the Lenovo Center) in Raleigh, North Carolina.
* The St. Louis Blues beat the Winnipeg Jets, 3-2 at Bell MTS Place (now the Canada Life Centre) in Winnipeg. Jaden Schwartz scored the game-winning goal with 15 seconds left in regulation.
* And the San Jose Sharks beat the Vegas Golden Knights, 5-2 at the SAP Center in San Jose.
No comments:
Post a Comment