Robert Mueller, the former head of the FBI who investigated the Russia-gate, has died. Trump: "I am glad"

Robert Mueller, former FBI director from 2001 to 2013 and a well-known figure to the public for his role as special prosecutor in the delicate "Russia investigation" at the beginning of Donald Trump's first term, died yesterday at the age of 81.

The announcement was made by the family in a statement reported by the New York Times, which had also reported a few months ago on the diagnosis of Parkinson's disease.

Mueller's passing elicited a shocking comment from President Donald Trump, who, in a post on Truth, exclaimed: "I’m glad he’s dead. He can no longer harm innocent people!", wrote the American president.

Appointed special prosecutor in 2017, Mueller led the investigation into possible collusion between Moscow and Trump's campaign during the 2016 presidential election for almost two years.

Reserved and discreet, he conducted the work in utmost secrecy and, in April 2019, made public a report of over 400 pages in which he described Russia's efforts to favor Trump, specifying, however, that he found no evidence of a conspiracy between the Kremlin and the Republican candidate's team.

In the 2019 document, he also detailed a series of alarming incidents of alleged pressure exerted by the White House occupant on the investigation.

Mueller was two years older than Trump. Born in New York on August 7, 1944, a Republican like the tycoon, he came from a wealthy family in the Northeast and was raised among prestigious schools.

A Marine officer, he earned a medal for valor in the Vietnam War before embarking on a brilliant career in public administration.

A law graduate, he distinguished himself as a federal prosecutor by tenaciously investigating the Hells Angels, the mafia, and cases of bank corruption.

During the presidency of George H. W. Bush, as number two at the Department of Justice, he oversaw the investigation into the bombing of Pan Am flight over Lockerbie, Scotland, which in 1988 resulted in 270 casualties.

A week before the September 11 attacks, he was appointed head of the powerful U.S. federal police. Three years later, he threatened to resign if President George W. Bush insisted on the extrajudicial wiretapping program.