{"id":690149,"date":"2026-03-29T12:40:23","date_gmt":"2026-03-29T12:40:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/690149\/"},"modified":"2026-03-29T12:40:23","modified_gmt":"2026-03-29T12:40:23","slug":"trumps-celebration-of-robert-muellers-death-sparks-scorn-and-echoes-of-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/690149\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump\u2019s celebration of Robert Mueller\u2019s death sparks scorn \u2013 and echoes of history"},"content":{"rendered":"

EDITOR\u2019S NOTE:\u00a0 The final two episodes of \u201cStandoff: The FBI, Power, and Paranoia\u201d air Sunday, March 29, at 9 p.m. ET\/6 p.m. PT. Episodes will be available to stream on demand the next day for subscribers of CNN\u2019s streaming offering<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The recent death of Robert Mueller<\/a> prompted a swift outpouring of bipartisan condolences for the once-wounded war hero, senior Justice Department leader and sixth director of the FBI.<\/p>\n

But at the White House: elation.<\/p>\n

\u201cGood, I\u2019m glad he\u2019s dead,\u201d President Donald Trump wrote on social media<\/a> about the former special counsel who investigated Russian interference in the 2016 election. \u201cHe can no longer hurt innocent people!\u201d<\/p>\n

While some past presidents have privately resented FBI directors \u2013 a topic explored in the new CNN Original documentary series \u201cStandoff: The FBI, Power, and Paranoia\u201d<\/a> \u2013 Trump\u2019s comments rank as the most openly caustic.<\/p>\n

The celebration of Mueller\u2019s death by Trump was met with scorn inside the FBI and other law enforcement agencies, with numerous rank-and-file sources privately slamming the comments.<\/p>\n

Now headed by the fierce Trump political loyalist Kash Patel, the FBI has yet to issue a public statement on Mueller\u2019s passing.<\/p>\n

The president\u2019s antipathy for Mueller was on full display throughout the course of the Russia investigation, with Mueller \u2013 whose tenure as FBI director ended well before Trump took office \u2013 brought out of retirement by Trump\u2019s own Justice Department to serve as special counsel<\/a>.<\/p>\n

According to the special counsel\u2019s findings<\/a>, Trump \u201cslumped back in his chair\u201d upon hearing the news Mueller had been appointed and said, \u201cOh my God. This is terrible. This is the end of my presidency. I\u2019m fucked.\u201d<\/p>\n

During the investigation, the president repeatedly hurled unfounded allegations accusing Mueller, a Republican, of trying to topple his administration. In the end, the special counsel\u2019s inquiry would lead to prison time for multiple Trump associates convicted of various federal crimes, although none were charged with colluding with Moscow.<\/p>\n

And while Trump has falsely claimed Mueller \u201cexonerated\u201d him, the special counsel did not make a decision on holding Trump accountable for possible crimes, instead punting on the topic<\/a> in adherence to a longtime DOJ policy that dictates a sitting president cannot be prosecuted.<\/p>\n

\"Robert<\/p>\n

Robert Mueller testifies before the House Judiciary Committee in July 2019 about his report on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. – Jonathan Ernst\/Pool\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u2018The only choice is to resign\u2019<\/p>\n

As the new CNN documentary \u201cStandoff\u201d outlines through stories of the fragile and high-risk relationships between FBI directors past and the presidents they served, the clash with Trump was not the first time Mueller nor his predecessors found themselves at odds with the White House.<\/p>\n

Back-to-back episodes airing Sunday at 9 p.m. ET\/6 p.m. PT on CNN feature Mueller\u2019s frenetic tenure under George W. Bush in the wake of 9\/11, as well as former FBI director Louis Freeh\u2019s turbulent relationship with Bill Clinton.<\/p>\n

Bush and Mueller worked closely as US authorities feverishly sought to stop the next possible terrorist attack. But their partnership would come to a head amid a dramatic standoff between DOJ and the White House over concerns about the legality of Bush\u2019s sweeping surveillance program, with Mueller and other senior officials threatening to resign en masse.<\/p>\n

\u201cMueller sees this, actually, as a very easy choice,\u201d historian Garrett Graff said in an interview for the series. \u201cHe believes that if he is being asked to do something unconstitutional, the only choice is to resign.\u201d<\/p>\n

The White House relented, changing the scope of the surveillance program to Mueller\u2019s liking, and he continued serving as FBI director long into the administration of Barack Obama.<\/p>\n

Clinton heralded his pick of Freeh as FBI director in 1993 \u2013 a decision the president would regret as the bureau soon found itself conducting a torrent of investigations into Clinton world, including business dealings, campaign contributions and a sexual relationship with a White House intern.<\/p>\n

\u201cBill Clinton comes to hate his director of the FBI,\u201d said political historian Leah Wright Rigueuer. \u201cAnd the feeling is mutual.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Louis<\/p>\n

Louis Freeh, President Bill Clinton’s choice to head the FBI, speaks next to the president on July 20, 1993, in the Rose Garden of the White House. – Ron Edmonds\/AP\/File<\/p>\n

\u2018Those capabilities can be devastating\u2019<\/p>\n

In Trump\u2019s second term, confrontation between the White House and FBI might as well be ancient history: The political leaders he has installed atop federal law enforcement have apparently proven willing to do the president\u2019s bidding<\/a> despite criticisms of abuse of power.<\/p>\n

But as law enforcement experts warn in \u201cStandoff,\u201d danger may lie ahead with the FBI\u2019s fierce independence now all but obliterated.<\/p>\n

\u201cOutside of current issues involving national security concerns, the president of the United States should have little or nothing to do with the FBI,\u201d said CNN Chief Law Enforcement and Intelligence Analyst John Miller<\/a>, who previously served as an FBI assistant director.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe FBI has a lot of power,\u201d said former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe. \u201cAnd put to the wrong ends, those capabilities can be devastating.\u201d<\/p>\n

Josh Campbell is a CNN Senior Correspondent and former special agent who worked for three FBI directors, including Robert Mueller.<\/p>\n

For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EDITOR\u2019S NOTE:\u00a0 The final two episodes of \u201cStandoff: The FBI, Power, and Paranoia\u201d air Sunday, March 29, at…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":690150,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[7096,69,122520,119346,142660,50,28185,283715,40190,67,132,68,5223],"class_list":["post-690149","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","category-us","tag-bill-clinton","tag-donald-trump","tag-fbi-director","tag-house-judiciary-committee","tag-mueller","tag-news","tag-robert-mueller","tag-special-counsel","tag-the-fbi","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us","tag-white-house"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116312514714338197","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/690149","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=690149"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/690149\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/690150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=690149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=690149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=690149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}