A House committee investigating the Justice Department’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking case has withdrawn a subpoena to former FBI Director Robert Mueller, citing the state of his health.
The House Oversight Committee last month scheduled Mueller to appear Tuesday for a deposition, but the subpoena was withdrawn after the panel learned of unspecified health issues that precluded him from being able to testify, according to a committee statement.
The New York Times, citing a statement from Mueller’s family and people close to him, reported Sunday night that Mueller had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in the summer of 2021 and has had difficulty speaking.
Mueller was appointed FBI director in 2001 by then-President George W. Bush and shepherded the bureau’s evolution into a national security and intelligence-gathering agency. He held the job for more than a decade, resigning in 2013.
In 2017, he was tapped by the Justice Department to serve as special counsel in charge of the investigation into potential coordination between Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and Russia.
His team over the course of the next two years revealed efforts by Russian operatives to interfere in the election on Trump’s behalf, and secured criminal charges and convictions against multiple Trump associates. But it did not find sufficient evidence to prove an illegal conspiracy between Moscow and the campaign to sway the election.
Mueller has rarely spoken about the investigation since its conclusion but did testify before Congress in July 2019, an appearance that drew attention because of the sometimes stilted and halting manner of his testimony.
Last month, Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, issued subpoenas to Mueller and more than a half dozen other former law enforcement and government officials for testimony about the years-long investigation into Epstein, whose August 2019 death following his arrest on sex trafficking charges was determined to have been a suicide.
Mueller was FBI director during an earlier Justice Department investigation of Epstein that resulted in a non-prosecution agreement that allowed the wealthy financier to plead guilty to state charges in Florida. It was not clear whether Mueller would have any knowledge or details about how that agreement came to be.
Parkinson’s is a neurologic disease that robs people of control over their movements. It typically starts with tremors and is characterized by slow movement, a shuffling gait, stiff limbs, balance problems and slurred speech. Though there is no cure, there are treatments.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.