Mr. Mueller treated his appearances over the years with a kind of dread, said Lisa Monaco, his chief of staff at the F.B.I.
“I don’t think anybody loves going up there and sitting through hours of testimony and hours of speeches that maybe result in a question or not. He didn’t love it,” she said. “He would brace himself, because he knew it was an opportunity to put the F.B.I. in the political cross hairs.”
Even as Mr. Mueller’s appearances over his 12 years as director under Mr. Bush and President Barack Obama remained mostly respectful — members of Congress often praised his stewardship — they featured a regular amount of political preening that made Mr. Mueller deeply uncomfortable, his aides said.
“It’s inescapable. Every time he went up to the Hill, you saw that,” Ms. Monaco said. “Members saw the benefit of putting Mueller and the F.B.I. between the poles of a debate, each side using the bureau or using him to try and score points.”
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