Robert Mueller is an attorney with decades of experience , the second longest director of the FBI, a combat veteran, and the special counsel investigating Russian interference in the election of Donald Trump — but how did he get to where he is now?

Mueller was born to a Navy veteran father. After spending time at an elite school in New Hampshire, he went on to Princeton, and went on to get a masters in international relations. He later joined the Marine Corps in the middle of the Vietnam War and was repeatedly decorated with military awards.

After that, he went to law school and jumped from a firm to his first government job in 1976. In 2001, President George W. Bush nominated him as director of the FBI, just around the time the September 11 attacks happened. During his time as director, he rarely made public appearances and opposed several of Bush’s ideals and policies, including his stance on torture.

President Obama went on to extend Mueller’s term as director, which is peculiar for a president of an opposing party. He later retired and was replaced by James Comey. And though he was interviewed for the FBI director role when Trump was elected, and turned down, he accepted the Department of Justice special counsel position the very next day. Since then he has been investigating ties between Trump and the Russian government during the 2016 election.

