Robert Mueller, the former special counsel who investigated Russian interference in 2016 and links between Donald Trump and Moscow, has died, his family said on Saturday. He was 81.

A statement from Mueller’s family, relayed by the New York Times on X, said: “With deep sadness, we are sharing the news that Bob passed away last night. His family asks that their privacy be respected.”

Mueller was appointed as special counsel in 2017 by then deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein to oversee the federal investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

The two-year investigation dominated much of Trump’s first term in office and concluded in 2019 that Russia had interfered in the election with the intention to benefit Trump’s 2016 campaign.

Mueller served as FBI director from 2001 to 2013, making him the longest serving official in the position since J Edgar Hoover. Earlier in his career, he oversaw the prosecutions of Panama strongman Manuel Noriega, New York mobster John Gotti, and led the investigation into the 1988 bombing of Pan Am flight 103.