Who is Robert Mueller, what were the conclusions of his Trump investigation and was the full report released?
ROBERT Mueller investigated alleged collusion between Donald Trump’s campaign team and Russia to swing the 2016 presidential election.
As Trump’s former personal lawyer and close confidant Michael Cohen was jailed as a result of Mueller’s investigation - here’s what you need to know about the Special Counsel.
Who is Robert Mueller?
Robert Swan Mueller III was born in New York on August 7 1944 into a wealth family.
His father, who was also called Robert, was a business executive the the DuPont corporation.
Mueller attended Princeton University, where he played lacrosse, and graduated in 1966 with a degree in politics.
He went on to obtain a Masters degree in International Relations from New York University in 1967.
Unlike Donald Trump, who got a medical discharge to avoid the draft, he volunteered to fight in Vietnam.
In 1968 Mueller joined the Marines, reportedly after a good friend of his was killed in Vietnam while fighting in the Corps.
He led a combat platoon in Vietnam during one of the most brutal phases of the conflict.
For his bravery he earned a Bronze Star after evacuating wounded soldiers from a battle scene “with complete disregard for his own safety.”
Mueller also earned a Purple Heart and two Navy Commendation Medals.
According to an account of his time in Vietman in magazine, he was once in such intense combat that he failed to notice a bullet had gone straight through his leg.
He credits much of his success in life to his experience in the Marines.
“Your improvement comes from the ability to maximize the embodiment of a Marine,” he said.
After briefly considering making the military his career, he left and went to law school instead.
He graduated from the University of Virginia Law school in 1973.
What was his first job?
His first job was with a law firm and then in 1976 joined the US Attorney's office in the Northern District of California as a prosecutor.
Mueller worked for worked for 12 years in the US Attorney offices, with spells at law firms in between, and was known for his tough, no-nonsense managerial style.
He investigated and prosecuted crimes ranging from major financial fraud to public corruption cases.
In 1990, he became head of the criminal division of the US Department of Justice.
During his time in that role, he oversaw the high-profile investigations of Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega, the Gambino crime family boss John Gotti and the Lockerbie bombing.
From 1998 to 2001 he was US Attorney - the chief prosecuting officer - for the Northern District of California.
He also had a spell for Deputy Attorney General for six months in 2001.
In July that year, the Justice Department announced Mueller had surgery for prostate cancer after being diagnosed in April.
What did Mueller do at the FBI?
Mueller was nominated for the position of FBI director by President George W. Bush, beating off competition from two other high profile lawyers.
He was sworn as the sixth director of the agency on September 4, 2001 and was immediately thrust into the hunt for terrorists linked to the 9/11 attacks.
Mueller transformed the FBI into a counterterrorism agency, expanding its manpower and shifting 2,000 of its 5,000 agents from fighting crime to national security.
As director, he earnt a reputation as a hard taskmaster whose relentless energy and demands meant he went through five chiefs of staff in his first four years.
He would publicly reprimand agents who used the words “linked” or “associated” with al-Qaeda rather than produce hard evidence, Garrett M. Graff’s wrote in his book about the hunt for the 9/11 terrorists.
In 2009, he wrote to Scotland's then justice secretary Kenny MacAskill to condemn the decision to release Abdelbaset Ali Al Megrahi, who was convicted over the Lockerbie bombing.
Muller said the decision was as “inexplicable as it is detrimental to the cause of justice” and “makes a mockery of the rule of law” while it also “gives comfort to terrorists”.
He went on to become the longest serving director of the FBI since J. Edgar Hoover.
The Senate voted 100-0 to change the law so he could extend his tenure by two years and he left in in 2014.
He took over the FBI in the wake of 9/11
What did his report on Trump find?
Special counsel Mueller did NOT find any evidence Donald Trump's campaign conspired with Moscow to influence the presidential election.
Speaking to reporters at Palm Beach in Florida, Trump said "It's a shame that our country has had to go through this" and "hopefully somebody's going to look at the other side".
He described the inquiry as an "illegal take down that failed" and said the idea of collusion with Russia was "the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard".
Mueller spent almost two years examining potential Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
But the special counsel did "not exonerate" Trump of obstructing justice, Barr added.
After consulting with other Justice Department officials, Barr said he and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein found the evidence was "not sufficient to establish that the president committed an obstruction of justice offence."
On May 1, 2019, it emerged that Mueller would testify to Congress about his findings.
This follows revelations that the former FBI supremo wrote a damning letter expressing frustration about how the findings were being portrayed to the public.
The Special Counsel's letter to Barr last month said he was worried that a document summarising the main conclusions of the probe lacked the necessary context and was creating public confusion about his team's work.
Mueller and Barr then had a phone call where the same concerns were addressed, it has been reported.
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Was the full report released?
Trump has posted a triumphant "Game Over" tweet as it was announced Robert Mueller's report has cleared him of collusion with Russia and obstructing justice.
The "Game of Thrones" inspired tweet came as Attorney General William Barr made public the findings of former FBI director Mueller's probe into the Trump campaign's contacts with the Kremlin and allegations of obstruction of justice by the president.
The 400-page report marks the culmination of former FBI director Mueller’s 22-month investigation and was first submitted to Barr at the end of last month.