Robert Mueller Has Parkinson’s Disease, Family Says

http://archive.today/2025.09.01-021145/https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/31/us/politics/robert-mueller-parkinsons-disease.html

Robert S. Mueller III, the former special counsel who investigated ties between President Trump’s campaign and Russia, was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease four years ago, his family said in a statement on Sunday.

In recent months, Mr. Mueller, a former F.B.I. director, has had difficulty speaking and experienced mobility issues, people familiar with his condition said. As a result, a congressional committee has withdrawn a request for Mr. Mueller to give testimony this week in its inquiry into the government’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein investigations.

Mr. Mueller became F.B.I. director two weeks before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. During his tenure leading the bureau, he had a reputation as a commanding figure, known for not only his ability to remember minute facts about major national security cases but also his physical stamina.

Questions arose about Mr. Mueller’s health after he delivered a halting performance before Congress in 2019 about his report on ties between Mr. Trump’s campaign and Russia, and whether Mr. Trump had obstructed that investigation.

Mr. Mueller’s report found a concerted effort by Russia to interfere in the 2016 election. It established no criminal conspiracy between Mr. Trump’s campaign and Russia but raised questions about whether Mr. Trump had sought to obstruct justice during the inquiry. The special counsel said the question of whether Mr. Trump could be charged was made moot by the Justice Department’s longstanding policy against prosecuting a sitting president.

Since he testified, Mr. Mueller — who had a longstanding reputation of keeping a low profile — has not spoken publicly or given an interview to a major publication.

The attorney general at the time of Mr. Mueller’s report on the Russia investigation, William P. Barr, and the deputy attorney general, Rod J. Rosenstein, who would end up at odds with the special counsel over their handling of his report, wondered to each other in 2019 after seeing Mr. Mueller face to face in a meeting whether he was ill, according to a book by Mr. Barr.

Defenders of Mr. Mueller and those who worked directly for him on the investigation have said that while Mr. Mueller showed his age during the special counsel investigation, he was sharp and fully in command of his team, and made all of its major investigative decisions.

During a key meeting to discuss the findings of Mr. Mueller’s investigation in 2019, Mr. Mueller’s hands “were trembling” and his voice was “tremulous,” Mr. Barr wrote in a memoir published in 2022.

“I knew he wasn’t nervous, and I wondered if he might have an illness,” Mr. Barr wrote.

Mr. Barr wrote that after the meeting, he and the deputy attorney general at the time, Mr. Rosenstein, discussed Mr. Mueller’s condition.

“Wow,” Mr. Barr said he said to Mr. Rosenstein. “Bob has lost a step.”