President Donald Trump on Saturday cheered the death of Robert S. Mueller III, a towering figure in federal law enforcement whom the president viewed as a leading antagonist and the face of efforts to undermine his presidency.
“Robert S. Mueller III just died. Good, I’m glad he’s dead,” Trump wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social. “He can no longer hurt innocent people.”
The comments, quickly amplified by a White House social media account on X, underscored how enduring — and personal — Trump’s grievance remained long after the investigation that clouded his first term.
The open celebration of Mueller’s demise fits a pattern for the president, whose instinct for bombast does not yield, even in death. Mueller, who earned widespread respect for his stewardship of the FBI in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, became a defining figure in Trump’s presidency as the special counsel who investigated Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible ties to Trump’s campaign.
He died Friday at 81. Mueller had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, his family acknowledged last year to Washington Post reporters writing a book about the Justice Department.
As one of the longest-serving heads of the FBI, Mueller was known as a steward of nonpartisanship who transformed the bureau into a global intelligence organization equipped to face the threats of terrorism while maintaining civil liberties. Trump has sought to reduce Mueller in public memory to his last major role — and worked to discredit him.
Trump has routinely denounced the Mueller investigation as a “hoax” and “a total disgrace” that amounted to “treason, ” returning repeatedly to the probe that ended in 2019 as proof of a government campaign to undermine him. After the years-long probe found that Russia worked to secure Trump’s win but did not conclude whether the president had obstructed justice, Trump and his supporters used the findings as proof of a “deep state” conspiring to wage a witch hunt against them.
The Trump administration in July sent its top intelligence official, Tulsi Gabbard, to the White House podium to revisit the grievance, alongside others, as she asserted that former president Barack Obama and members of his administration should be investigated for criminal wrongdoing as part of a vast “treasonous conspiracy.”
Obama called Mueller “one of the finest directors in the history of the FBI,” in a statement posted to X on Saturday. “But it was his relentless commitment to the rule of law and his unwavering belief in our bedrock values that made him one of the most respected public servants of our time,” he added.
Trump has displayed singular distaste for Mueller, but he has repeatedly shown willingness to criticize his perceived enemies soon after their deaths in violation of long-standing norms for political figures.
After the late senator from Arizona John McCain died in 2018, he refusedto follow a tradition of leaving the flag at half-staff until interment — though he relented after a barrage of criticism from his own party. Less than a day after acclaimed film director Rob Reiner was found dead in his Los Angeles home, Trump claimed that the Hollywood icon was killed “due to the anger he caused others through his massive, unyielding, and incurable affliction with a mind crippling disease known as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME.”
Nick Reiner, the son of the late Hollywood icon, was arrested in connection with the murder of his father and mother, photographer Michele Singer Reiner. He has pleadednot guilty.
Some members of the GOP have made a point of taking a different approach to Mueller’s passing.
Rep. Michael R. Turner (R-Ohio) said Saturday on X that he respected Mueller’s longtime service to the country “no matter how controversial the Mueller investigation was.”
“While the manner in which Mueller led that very partisan investigation damaged his reputation and undermined the conclusion of the report, he was nonetheless committed to the truth,” Turner said. “Up until his leadership of that investigation, Mueller had an extremely strong reputation and career and I am grateful for his service to this country. I express my condolences to his family for their loss.”
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