Former US special counsel Robert Mueller, who investigated alleged Russian interference in the 2016 US election, will not be able to testify before Congress because of Parkinson's disease in the case of the suicide financier Jeffrey Epstein, who was previously convicted of prostitution with minors, The New York Times reported.
In recent months, as the publication points out, the 81-year-old Mueller has had difficulty speaking and moving. For this reason, he will not be able to appear on Tuesday before lawmakers who wanted to get his testimony about how the FBI investigated Epstein. Mueller led this agency from 2001 to 2013.
As the family of the former special counsel told the newspaper, Mueller was diagnosed with the disease in the summer of 2021. “He retired from the practice of law at the end of that year. He taught law at the University of Virginia in the fall of 2021 and 2022 and retired at the end of 2022,” the family said in a statement to the newspaper.
Epstein was arrested by New York State law enforcement on July 6, 2019. Prosecutors said they had evidence that he arranged visits to his Manhattan home for dozens of underage girls, the youngest of whom was 14 years old, between 2002 and 2005. Epstein’s circle of friends and acquaintances includes a large number of current and former officials not only in the United States but also in many other countries, including former heads of state, major entrepreneurs and show business stars. The criminal prosecution of the financier in the United States was terminated after his suicide in a prison cell on August 10, 2019.
Epstein's acquaintances included the 42nd US President Bill Clinton and the current occupant of the White House, Donald Trump. The latter's supporters have previously repeatedly called on him to publish all information on the Epstein case. Trump and members of his team promised during the election campaign last year to declassify documents from the investigation into the Epstein case and ensure maximum transparency in this case.
As The Wall Street Journal reported on July 23, citing administration officials in Washington, US Attorney General Pam Bondi informed Trump in the spring that his name appeared in documents related to Epstein, as well as the names of “many other prominent figures“. The White House called this publication false.