Former Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller is pictured testifying during a House Intelligence Committee hearing.

Robert Mueller, who served as a special counsel to determine if the Russian government interfered to help then-presidential candidate Donald Trump in 2016, was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease four years ago, the New York Times reported on Aug. 31.

The Times, citing a Mueller family statement, reported that he was diagnosed with Parkinson's in the summer of 2021. The statement came just days before he had been called to testify before a congressional committee about the government's handling of the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking investigations. The request has since been dropped by the committee, according to the Times.

"He retired from the practice of law at the end of that year," the statement said, according to the Times. "He taught at his law school alma mater during the fall of both 2021 and 2022, and he retired at the end of 2022. His family asks that his privacy be respected."

Parkinson's disease is an age-related degenerative brain condition which causes parts of the brain to deteriorate, causing slowed movements, tremors, balance, according to the Cleveland Clinic.

Mueller's investigation ultimately concluded that Russia had interfered in the 2016 election to help Trump, but that there was no evidence that anyone associated with the Trump campaign colluded with the Russian government.

In the ongoing saga related to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who died by suicide in 2019 in a New York federal prison, the Department of Justice on Aug. 22 sent a portion of the files to the House Oversight Committee in response to a subpoena issued by the committee.

Mueller is one of several former top federal law enforcement officials — including James Comey, Loretta Lynch, Eric Holder, Merrick Garland, William Barr, and Jeff Sessions — who have been subpoenaed to testify as part of its inquiry into the federal government’s handling of the investigations.

Mueller was supposed to testify on Sept. 2, according to the Times.

The committee wanted to ask Mueller about the FBI's handling of the Epstein investigation when he served as its director from 2001 to 2013.

A long career in public service

Mueller was picked by President George W. Bush for the top law enforcement job in 2001, one week before the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. He spent the next 12 years as the head of the FBI, the second longest tenure in history (behind J. Edgar Hoover who served 48 years), after Congress extended his tenure by two years in 2011.

He also spent three years as an officer in the Marine Corps, leading a rifle platoon during the Vietnam War, and earned the Purple Heart.

"Bob Mueller is an outstanding choice because he is apolitical and follows the rule of law, and follows the evidence wherever it leads, regardless of political outcomes," John Pistole, a former FBI deputy director under Mueller, told USA TODAY in 2017.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Robert Mueller diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, report says

Reporting by Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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