Mueller

Black text over an illustration of the top half of a man's face on a yellow background

Robert Swan Mueller III served as director of the FBI from 2001 to 2013, under Presidents Bush and Obama. In 2017, after the contentious presidential election of 2016, he was chosen as special counsel in a Department of Justice probe into alleged Russian meddling in the election.

Before his law enforcement career, Mueller served as a Marine during the Vietnam War, and received multiple awards for his service, including the Purple Heart. After his military service, he earned a master’s in International Studies at New York University, and later a law degree at the University of Virginia. Mueller worked in private law, but switched to the public sector. Soon after assuming directorship of the FBI, the September 11 terror attacks occurred, and Mueller directed the investigation of terrorist activities. In 2004, the Justice Department declared the warrantless wiretapping program authorized by President Bush’s administration illegal. Mueller, along with other officials, pressured White House counsel Alberto Gonzales to leave the ruling in place, and threatened to resign if the White House overturned the ruling. President Bush ultimately overruled his counsel. After his stint at the FBI, Mueller returned to private law practice before being appointed special counsel in 2017.

The button’s creator, Henry H. Owings, provided some insight into how he designed the final version of the button. The image is from Mueller’s official government profile, and the yellow color is supposed to be politically neutral, associated with neither Democrats nor Republicans. Owings also mentioned that he never expected to sell thousands of the buttons, and he has been pleased with the amount of support for the button.

This button was manufactured by the Busy Beaver Button Co.