Robert Mueller to help teach law school class on Trump-Russia investigation
By Paul LeBlanc, CNN
Former special counsel Robert Mueller will help teach a University of Virginia Law School class on his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, the school announced Wednesday.
The course, titled “The Mueller Report and the Role of the Special Counsel,” will be taught by three former senior members of Mueller’s team and held over six sessions in the fall semester.
“I was fortunate to attend UVA Law School after the Marine Corps, and I’m fortunate to be returning there now,” Mueller said in a news release, which noted that he will lead at least one class. “I look forward to engaging with the students this fall.”
The school said the course will focus on “a key set of decisions made during the special counsel’s investigation,” starting with Mueller’s appointment as special counsel and ending with a focus on “obstruction of justice, presidential accountability and the role of special counsel in that accountability.”
Appointed to the role of special counsel in May 2017, Mueller has been notoriously tight-lipped about his investigation, even after it concluded.
Ultimately, Mueller found several examples of Russian efforts to sway the election for the Trump campaign but did not find evidence that the Trump campaign knowingly took part in the allegedly criminal conspiracy, according to his 448-page report released in April 2019.
His office also thoroughly investigated 10 possible situations where Trump attempted to obstruct the Russia investigation, according to the report. He declined to decide whether Trump should be prosecuted, and instead outlined findings and his legal analysis regarding possible obstruction. Mueller left the Justice Department leadership to make the call not to charge the then-President.
In all, Mueller charged 34 people and three Russian companies with crimes. That included top Trump advisers: Paul Manafort, Roger Stone, Rick Gates and Michael Flynn, as well as two dozen Russians and the Russian companies.
The school makes specific reference to class sessions that will focus on “the importance of the Roger Stone prosecution” along with “navigating the relationship with the Justice Department and Congress” and “investigative actions relating to the White House.”
Mueller, who began his career with the Department of Justice in 1976 as an assistant US attorney in San Francisco, will look to bring other prosecutors involved in his investigation into the classroom as well, the school said.
