Aaron Zebley
Aaron Zebley being sworn in during Robert Mueller's House Intelligence Committee testimony on July 24, 2019
Deputy Special Counsel for the United States Department of Justice[1]
In office
2017–2019
Special CounselRobert Mueller
Senior Counselor for the United States Department of Justice National Security Division[2]
In office
February 2014 – March 2014
Chief of Staff of the Federal Bureau of Investigation[2]
In office
September 2011 – December 2013
DirectorRobert Mueller
Personal details
Born1969 or 1970[3]
SpouseCatharine F. Easterly[4]
EducationCollege of William & Mary (BA)
University of Virginia School of Law (JD)

Aaron Mortimer Zebley[5][6] is an American attorney and former FBI special agent who was the deputy special counsel of the Special Counsel investigation headed by Robert Mueller.[7] He was the former chief of staff to Mueller at the FBI.[7] Zebley followed Mueller from the Federal Bureau of Investigation to the law firm WilmerHale and also subsequently left when Mueller resigned to become the special counsel, along with James L. Quarles.[8][9]

Early life and education

Zebley graduated from the College of William & Mary[10] magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa in 1992.[2] He graduated from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1996.[11] After working at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe from July to December 1997, he would enter and graduate from the FBI Academy in 1998.[2]

Career

Zebley was an FBI special agent working for the bureau's Counterterrorism Division for seven years.[12] As an FBI agent, Zebley investigated al-Qaeda's bombings of U.S. embassies in east Africa in 1998, and after the September 11 attacks was assigned to the FBI's PENTTBOM team, which investigated the terrorists responsible for the attacks.[13] Zebley was on the arrest team that captured one of the embassy bombers, Khalfan Khamis Mohamed, in October 1999 in Cape Town, South Africa.[14]

Zebley was one of the investigators who built the case against Zacarias Moussaoui, who was ultimately sentenced to life imprisonment.[13] Zebley was a summary witness in Moussaoui's penalty proceeding, testifying to the ways in which Moussaoui's confession in 2005 could have helped track down the September 11 hijacks in the month before the attacks, had he provided truthful information when first arrested.[15]

Zebley later joined the United States Department of Justice, where he was first an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Alexandria, Virginia-based National Security and Terrorism Unit[11] and later a senior counsel in the National Security Division, holding the position of senior counselor.[12]

Zebley served as chief of staff to Robert Mueller when Mueller was Director of the FBI and in 2014 followed Mueller to the law firm WilmerHale, where he served as partner for three years.[11][16] While in private practice at WilmerHale, Zebley was an expert in cybersecurity[12] and represented a wide range of clients, including Justin Cooper, a former aide to Hillary Clinton,[17] and the National Football League.[5]

In May 2017, after Mueller was appointed as special counsel investigating Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections, Zebley resigned from WilmerHale to join the Special Counsel investigative team.[18] Zebley rejoined WilmerHale in October 2019.[19]

On June 2, 2021, the University of Virginia announced that Zebley would be teaching a course entitled "The Mueller Report and the Role of the Special Counsel" during the fall semester, along with former Special Counsel Robert Mueller and former Special Counsel's Office members James L. Quarles and Andrew D. Goldstein.[20]

See also

References

  1. ^ WilmerHale. "Aaron Zebley, Partner" , Retrieved on July 21, 2021.
  2. ^ a b c d United States Department of Justice. "OSC Resumes", Retrieved on July 21, 2021.
  3. ^ Weiland, Noland. "Who Is Aaron Zebley, the Aide Sitting Beside Mueller?", The New York Times, Retrieved on July 21, 2021.
  4. ^ Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. "Nominations of Ronald D. McCray to Be a Member of the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board; Corinne A. Beckwith and Catharine F. Easterly to Be Associate Judges of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals". September 23, 2011.
  5. ^ a b Mark Maske & Adam Goldman, Probe of NFL's handling of Ray Rice case could imperil Commissioner Roger Goodell, Washington Post (September 11, 2014).
  6. ^ University of Virginia Law School Foundation. "University of Virginia School of Law Annual Report", Retrieved June 17, 2020.
  7. ^ a b Fandos, Nicholas (July 23, 2019). "Key Aide Will Appear Alongside Mueller During Hearings". The New York Times. Archived from the original on December 4, 2019.
  8. ^ Taylor, Jessica; Johnson, Carrie (May 17, 2017). "Former FBI Director Mueller Appointed As Special Counsel To Oversee Russia Probe". NPR. Archived from the original on May 17, 2017.
  9. ^ Jarrett, Laura; Perez, Evan (June 10, 2017). "Mueller staffing up Russia probe while Trump lawyer declares victory". CNN. Archived from the original on June 10, 2017. Retrieved June 10, 2017.
  10. ^ "Robert Mueller Chooses His Investigatory Dream Team". Wired. Retrieved August 21, 2018.
  11. ^ a b c Former FBI Chief of Staff Aaron Zebley to Join WilmerHale (press release), WilmerHale (March 31, 2014).
  12. ^ a b c Rebecca Tan & Alex Ward,Meet the all-star legal team who may take down Trump, Vox (June 15, 2017).
  13. ^ a b Cullen Couch, When the Constitution and National Security Interests Collide: Investigations and Trials in a Post-9/11 World, UVA Lawyer (fall 2007).
  14. ^ Graff, Garrett (June 14, 2017). "Robert Mueller Chooses His Investigatory Dream Team". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved December 12, 2019.
  15. ^ Lewis, Neil A. (March 23, 2006). "Case for Moussaoui Execution Seems Bolstered by 2 Witnesses". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved December 12, 2019.
  16. ^ Laura Jarrett; Evan Perez (June 10, 2017). "Mueller staffing up Russia probe". CNN.
  17. ^ Mueller, several team members gave up million-dollar jobs to work on special counsel investigation, Washington Post (August 8, 2017).
  18. ^ "Former FBI Director Mueller Appointed As Special Counsel To Oversee Russia Probe". NPR.org. Retrieved August 21, 2018.
  19. ^ WilmerHale. "Aaron M. Zebley Rejoins WilmerHale From Special Counsel’s Office", Retrieved on May 4, 2020.
  20. ^ Wood, Mary (June 2, 2021). "Robert Mueller Will Share Lessons From Special Counsel Investigation During UVA Law Course". University of Virginia. Archived from the original on June 2, 2021. Retrieved July 21, 2021.
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