Robert Mueller, the former FBI director who later served as special counsel overseeing the 2016 investigation into Russian election interference, has died at the age of 81.

“With deep sadness, we are sharing the news that Bob passed away” on Friday night, his family said Saturday in a statement to the Associated Press. “His family asks that their privacy be respected.”

His cause of death was not immediately known, though two people familiar with the situation told MS Now that the attorney had been struggling with Parkinson’s disease.

Mueller served as FBI director from 2001 to 2013 after being nominated by President George W. Bush. He officially took on the role a week before the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and Mueller brought about sweeping changes to focus the bureau on counterterrorism.

In 2017, the Department of Justice appointed Mueller as special counsel overseeing the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. He was appointed after Trump fired then-FBI Director James Comey, who had been investigating possible collusion between President Donald Trump’s campaign and Russia.

Mueller’s probe led to dozens of indictments, and his report on the investigation, best known as the Mueller report, described extensive Russian interference in the election. However, the report was not able to conclude that Trump’s campaign illegally conspired to aid Russia in its interference.

The report also did not conclude that Trump had criminally obstructed justice, though it also explicitly did not exonerate him, despite the president’s claims of “Total EXONERATION.”

Mueller became a target of ire for Trump and the MAGA world amid the investigation, with the president repeatedly calling the probe a “witch hunt.” Following news of Mueller’s death Saturday, Trump posted on Truth Social, “Good, I’m glad he’s dead.”

Mueller was married to Ann Cabell Standish, with whom he had two daughters. He also had three grandchildren.

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