Robert Mueller

Obama Enrages Civil Liberties Groups By Dropping Detainee Veto Threat

Ryan J. Reilly | December 14, 2011, 6:03PM

President Barack Obama

Despite concerns from the law enforcement community that provisions of the National Defense Authorization Act that direct terrorism suspects into the military system could hamper national security, the White House said Wednesday that President Barack Obama would not veto the legislation.

Claiming credit for last minute changes to the legislation, White House spokesman Jay Carney said in statement that the administration had "succeeded in prompting the authors of the detainee provisions to make several important changes, including the removal of problematic provisions" after "intensive engagement" by administration officials and Obama himself.

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Congress

Mueller: Congress' Terror Detainee Deal Would Create 'Uncertainty' During Arrests

Ryan J. Reilly | December 14, 2011, 12:15PM

As of Tuesday, the federal government wasn't quite ready to render a verdict on the compromise reached by members of Congress on a provision of the National Defense Authorization Act which guides terrorist suspects into the military justice system. But FBI Director Robert Mueller indicated Wednesday that the administration still has concerns, though it's still unclear if the White House will make good on a previous veto threat.

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FBI

Documents Show FBI Targeted Communities Based On Race, Ethnicity

Ryan J. Reilly | October 20, 2011, 5:11PM

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) just released a massive trove of FBI documents indicating that anti-Muslim training materials have spread pretty far and wide within the bureau over the past several years and that analysts have been targeting areas based on racial and ethnic demographics.

It's all part of the ACLU's new "Mapping the FBI" initiative, which "aims to expose misconduct and abuse of authority by the bureau." They say the documents show that the FBI "has been targeting American communities for investigation based on race, ethnicity, national origin and religion" and that analysts "across the country are associating criminal behaviors with certain racial and ethnic groups and then using U.S. census data and other demographic information to map where those communities are located to investigate them."

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DOJ

Did Iranian Regime Approve Plot To Have Mexican Drug Cartel Member Kill Saudi Arabian Ambassador?

Ryan J. Reilly | October 12, 2011, 6:00AM

FBI Director Robert Mueller (Left) And U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder (Right)

It's not everyday that the U.S. Attorney General and director of the FBI stand at a press conference and accuse military officials in a foreign country of plotting to assassinate an ambassador to the United States.

But that's just what happened Tuesday, when Attorney General Eric Holder and FBI Director Robert Mueller went before the cameras at the Justice Department and laid out the details of an alleged plot to kill the Saudi Arabian Ambassador, involving a Texas-based Iranian-American named Manssor Arbabsiar.

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Robert Mueller

Mueller: FBI Training That Smears All Muslims Has Been 'Isolated' (VIDEO)

Ryan J. Reilly | October 6, 2011, 1:55PM

FBI Director Robert Mueller

FBI Director Robert Mueller told the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence on Thursday that the counterterrorism training sessions conducted by his bureau that claimed American-Muslims were likely to be terrorist sympathizers were isolated.

Mueller called the FBI training materials in question "inappropriate offensive content" but asserted they weren't commonplace, calling the incidents "an aberration."

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FBI

FBI Probing News Corp Over 9/11 Victims Allegations

Jillian Rayfield | July 14, 2011, 2:54PM

The FBI has opened an investigation into whether reporters for Rupert Murdoch's News Corp hacked into the phone records of 9/11 victims, according to the FBI's New York office.

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FBI

GOPer to Mueller: Why Doesn't FBI Have To Reach Out To Baptists or Catholics Like It Does Muslims?

Ryan J. Reilly | March 16, 2011, 1:10PM

FBI Director Robert Mueller and Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX)

Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) asked FBI Director Robert Mueller on Wednesday whether the bureau had any outreach programs specifically for the Baptist or Catholic communities like it did with the Muslim community.

"How is your outreach going with the Baptists or the Catholics?" Gohmert inquired.

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FBI

Mueller: House GOP 2011 Budget Would 'Undermine' FBI

Ryan J. Reilly | March 16, 2011, 11:05AM

Robert S. Mueller III

FBI Director Robert Mueller told the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday that the continuing resolution passed by the GOP-controlled House to fund the federal government through September could undermine FBI's efforts to continue to transform the bureau into a national security agency.

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Yasir Afifi

Arab-American Student Sues FBI Over GPS Tracking Device

Ryan J. Reilly | March 3, 2011, 8:30AM

In a photo he posted online, Yasir Afifi holds the tracking device he found on his car

Yasir Afifi, the 20-year-old Arab-American student who was visited by FBI agents after he found a secret GPS tracking device on his car, sued Attorney General Eric Holder and FBI Director Robert Mueller this week for allegedly violating his constitutional rights.

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Robert Mueller

Obama Sends FBI Director Robert Mueller to Scene Of Gifford Shootings

Ryan J. Reilly | January 8, 2011, 5:31PM

Robert S. Mueller III

Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Bob Mueller is in route to the scene of the shootings in Arizona where Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D) and 17 others were injured, President Barack Obama said at a news conference on Saturday afternoon.

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FBI

FBI Placed Left-Wing Activists On Terrorism Watch List Without Cause

Ryan J. Reilly | September 20, 2010, 2:04PM

Robert S. Mueller III

The FBI had a weak factual basis for opening and extending some investigations of U.S. activist groups and put individuals affiliated with Greenpeace USA on the terrorist watch list improperly, a report by the Justice Department's Inspector General released Monday found.

In addition, FBI Director Robert Mueller was also found to have unintentionally provided inaccurate testimony to Congress because he was given bad information. FBI personnel told him that certain persons of interest in international terrorism matters were expected to be present at an anti-war rally in Pittsburgh in 2002, according to the report.

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ATF

Top DOJ Official Tells ATF, FBI to End Turf Wars at Explosives Sites

Ryan J. Reilly | August 18, 2010, 8:20AM

An FBI bomb technician vehicle.

A top Justice Department official scolded the ATF and the FBI for allowing the turf war between the two federal agency to continue, saying that squabbles in the wake of explosives incidents leave local responders confused about who's in charge as they work to defuse live bombs.

But Acting Deputy Attorney General Gary Grindler told ATF Deputy Director Ken Melson and FBI Director Robert in a memo obtained by TPMMuckraker that he thinks he's worked out a solution on which both sides can agree.

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FBI

WaPo: FBI Repeatedly Broke Law In Phone Record Searches

Justin Elliott | January 19, 2010, 9:27AM

Robert S. Mueller III

In a preview of what will apparently be a scorching Inspector General report, the Washington Post today details how the FBI illegally collected more than 2,000 U.S. phone records over several years during the Bush Administration.

The crux of the lawbreaking was the FBI's use of so-called "exigent circumstances letters" to get phone records. That's was a post-9/11 tool created to allow quick searches of phone records in case of emergency.

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