I expect to be disappointed by the Mueller testimony Wednesday.

[edhopper]

I would love him to say something that makes impeachment inevitable. That without qualifications, Trump broke the Law.

But I think it will be a measured and reserved recap of his redacted report, without an new revelation.

[Mike Nelson]

1. Agree...

… I am fully prepared to be disappointed.

[Sanity Claws]

2. I agree

That's because he is testifying on Wednesday.

[edhopper]

7. fixed

my brain fart.

[hlthe2b]

3. You surely will tomorrow, because he testifies Wednesday...

[edhopper]

8. yep

fixed

[sinkingfeeling]

4. Well, since he's not appearing until Wednesday, July 24....

[edhopper]

9. Is that a typo joke?

June-July?

[sinkingfeeling]

13. Typo.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

5. Me too. I bet he doesn't even say a single word on Tuesday!

And I'll be left waiting for nothing.

[edhopper]

10. fixed

[Vinca]

6. Me, too. He had his chance to do his job and he blew it.

[watoos]

11. Stop blaming Mueller in advance,

Mueller is a truth teller, if the hearing is a dud it won't be Mueller's fault, it will be the Dem's fault for not asking the right questions.

Anyone wish that the squad was on the committee asking questions? I do.

[Duppers]

29. Exactly! They'd never let him get away..

With evasive, equivocating tactics.

[Different Drummer]

45. "Anyone wish that the squad was on the committee asking questions?"

I would love to see that!

[uponit7771]

50. Mueller to the "right questions" ... I'm not going to answer that. ... now what?

[SamKnause]

12. As do I.

I have zero expectations that he will add, or do anything of value.

His silence has been deafening.

[asiliveandbreathe]

14. I never put my party dress on until the day of the party..nor do I prejudge

if I will have a good time or not..At this link you will find 35 questions many think congress should ask Mueller....including questions from Readers - my feeling about this, if Mueller answers any and all of these questions, having read through them all, we will have a more clear picture - I just don't see how the questions presented at this link veers from the report...

https://www.justsecurity.org/64137/what-congress-should-ask-robert-mueller-when-he-testifies/

For example....

3. Upon concluding your work and submitting your final report, did you anticipate the Attorney General reaching and publicly announcing a conclusion on whether the President had obstructed justice? Would you have recommended that the Attorney General do so?

At Just Security another story of interest...

https://www.justsecurity.org/64972/house-should-prepare-criminal-referral-of-a-g-barr-for-lying-to-congress/

Be well..

[kentuck]

15. There should be no great expectations...

Democrats need to understand that it is mostly a PR production. They should attempt to contrast themselves favorably vs Republicans on the TV show.

[still_one]

16. To be fair the Mueller report already documents enough for impeachment to occur if they choose to

exercise it

There are valid arguments on both sides whether that should happen or not

[emmaverybo]

27. THIS

[ehrnst]

49. Sort of like there are 'valid arguments on both sides about climate change being real or not?"

[still_one]

53. NO, IT ISN"T THE SAME THING. Impeachment is a political process. Climate Change is a scientific

fact.

[dem4decades]

17. I expect you won't be disappointed expecting disappointment.

[Fullduplexxx]

18. Well with that attitude.....

[Perseus]

32. That attitude has to do with history

What in the latest history of deeds by Democrats would give you hope that things will turn out different? I have always been very optimistic, but I am slowly but surely becoming less optimistic about outcomes from these efforts by Democratic leaders. For example, what have they done to enforce all those subpoenas they issued and republicans have refused to comply with? How useful was Don Jr's testimony when he was the one setting up the rules? Why is Pelosi refusing to impeach? What is being done to prevent hacking of Democrat's servers, voting machines, etc?

You see? Lots to be frustrated about.

I wish good attitude, like many of us had at the beginning, would change things around, but that attitude has changed from hope to no hope due to the outcomes we have experienced in the last few months.

[Harddaysknight]

47. Good post Perseus

Totally reflects my opinion.Seems the most movement we have seen in Democratic leadership,is to get a bridle on AOC and the "Gang". All this is failure of leadership,and has allowed the GOP to run rampant over the rule of law.This is why I am no fan of current Dem leadership.

If AOC would announce,I'd be all over that.No more mamby pamby leadership.Go big or go home.

[ehrnst]

48. Perhaps a quick google of what's in the Consitution concerning eligibility for POTUS candidates

would be beneficial for you.

It's clear you're unfamiliar with it, or basic details about AOC:

As directed by the Constitution, a presidential candidate must be a natural born citizen of the United States, a resident for 14 years, and 35 years of age or older

.

Maybe your lack of respect for Democratic leadership spilled over to AOC inadvertently.

https://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/presentationsandactivities/presentations/elections/requirements-for-president.html

You're welcome.

[uponit7771]

19. K&R, I would expect his comfort level to take second to America's security

[Hoyt]

20. If he only repeats his Report and what he said in May, it will be a bust. Agree with poster above

that Committee members are going to have to drag additional info out of him. Not sure it's possible, and he's not likely to throw his good buddy Barr under the bus.

As Politico states: "Bill Barr and Robert Mueller have been close friends for 30 years, from the Justice Department to family weddings and the Bible study attended by both of their wives."

[rusty fender]

21. You know it,

especially since Scott Dworkin is playing it up on Twitter as the Holy Grail of congressional testimony

[PRETZEL]

22. I don't expect any great revelations,

however, there will be plenty of information brought out.

Alot of this is (and a lack of a better term) for public consumption. Unless you've actually read (or at a minumum paid attention to what has been discussed) most of the testimony will be about referencing and reiterating certain conclusions within the report. Whether or not Mr. Mueller expands on underlying evidence, it will be confirmation of the written document.

I would suspect that the main purpose is to identify points of discussion for the general public.

[Cirque du So-What]

23. I hear the title of this OP read in Alan Rickman's voice

[Fiendish Thingy]

24. It all depends on how Congress acts moving forward

If Meuller did nothing but read from his report in response to questions form the committees, it could still be used to justify impeachment, if the leadership move aggressively to use Meuller’s testimony to highlight Trump’s crimes.

[Beringia]

25. At least he is under scrutiny

[Habibi]

28. I'm going to go with

no expectations. Except, maybe, some of the folks out there who believed the Mueller report exonerated Trump on conspiracy and obstruction might watch and learn something.

[Perseus]

30. Unfortunate as your prediction is, I agree

Let us hope we are wrong about this, let us hope that his testimony opens a lot of people's eyes and understand that we are in an emergency, that we do have a crook in the White House being aided by a bunch of other crooks from the republican party, the the creature is in fact, an evil creature.

[frogmarch]

31. I don't expect much, so

I won't be disappointed if he doesn't deliver. If he does, I'll be surprised and ecstatic.

[renate]

33. He's not going to say anything damning that wasn't in the report

Because if it were clearly damning, it should have been in there in the first place, and he would lose his considerable credibility.

He simply needs to say that Trump wasn’t cleared of anything, just that there was insufficient (not nonexistent) evidence of collusion, and that he felt it was not his place but Congress’ to make any charges of obstruction, but that there was evidence to support that charge. Testifying that Trump has been lying about “no obstruction no collusion” will come as a surprise to a lot of Americans who don’t pay close attention to the news.

There won’t be any surprises tomorrow, just clarification. Which is what we need when we have a Liar in Chief as a president.

[DallasNE]

36. There Was Plenty Of Evidence Of Conspiracy

Muller has said as much but concluded he couldn't prove intent beyond a reasonable doubt. Hello, how about that Trump Tower meeting with the campaign and Russians.

[NightWatcher]

34. He's a rule follower. He'll acknowledge his report and that's all.

He'll affirm that he did it and wrote it up. He will not make prosecutorial decisions, as he believed it was not his charge.

Expect further distractions too, until the rw learns that nothing will come of it, then they'll praise Mueller and say that if there was a crime why won't the House impeach.

[DallasNE]

35. I Expect It To Be A Dud

He will not answer why no indictments came out of the Trump Tower meeting other than against the Russian lawyer.

He will not answer why his prosecutorial judgement saying it would be unfair to indict people for crimes when the President is not indicted for the same crime. That decision let a whole host of Trump family members and Trump insiders off the hook. How is that serving justice?

[elocs]

37. If you expect to be disappointed, you shouldn't be.

Many will though, just as they were with the Mueller Report.

Here's a news flash though: Impeachment does not remove Trump from office. Now I bet that's disappointing news.

[edhopper]

38. We know that

but I am of the opinion that impeachment with the Senate ignoring the crimes that are revealed, hurts Trump and the GOP in 2020.

[elocs]

42. I don't buy it. Impeachment will change nobody's mind,

but just a way of exacting a pound of flesh from Trump. Just because you don't impeach doesn't mean you ignore Trump's crimes. The Senate is the jury and just because a jury does not convict doesn't mean the did not hear the evidence or that the evidence of the crime was not revealed.
However, if Trump is impeached and then not convicted and wins reelection and it is shown that his impeachment actually helped him, not a single person who is calling for impeachment now would admit it but would call it fake news.

What defeats Trump is the Left uniting behind the Democratic candidate with no pouting or purity tests and then turning out in record numbers to vote for that person.

[edhopper]

43. Agree with your last sentence

but disagree with the first graph. With the understanding that know one knows what will happen if we do or don't. We are making predictions with very little data to go by.

[ehrnst]

51. +1000. There will be no reducing of DT's time in office.

He may also react like a cornered animal to impeachment, and do God knows what to deflect.

It will not convince a single Trump supporter who's still with him after all he's done. They won't believe any facts, or they just won't care.

Any Dem Senators in Red states who vote yes for impeachment will lose GOP voters and if they vote no, Democratic Socialists of America will primary them and by doing so, make it easier for the GOP challenger.

Same with Democratic congresspersons in swing district.

The cons outweigh the pros at this point.

[lagomorph777]

39. Even a hostile witness can be very fruitful for a skilled questioner.

The witness' failure to answer can be very damning, if the question is asked the right way.

[Cetacea]

40. Don't worry. Congress goes on vacation two days later!

That gives the GOP five to six weeks to "swift-boat" any gains made by Mueller's public hearing. No accident.

[Nitram]

41. I'm going in prepared to be totally disappointed, but a part of me still hopes

something good will come of it. Best case scenario, the interview moves public opinion far enough to make impeachment a likely result. I give that about a 1.5% chance.

[Greybnk48]

44. Yep, I agree too. n/t

[Harddaysknight]

46. As do I.

I don't have as much confidence as most either.Look what happened with Barr.Most of the posters here thought we was an honorable man,but he turned out to be Republican first.

I guess we will see if he holds being a Republican more important than being open and honest.

Nothing I'd like to see more than Lumpy impeached,except maybe seeing his picture on a milk carton.

[canetoad]

54. That's a big statement

"Most of the posters here thought we was an honorable man..."

Could you point me to any of these posts? TIA.

[Kurt V.]

52. not me. the guy spoken. its up to others to carry it forward

[JustFiveMoreMinutes]

55. It's history.. if nothing else, the moving finger writes....

... and having writ... history is recorded.

[King_Klonopin]

56. Jordan and Geatz will be turds in the punch bowl

Their mission will be to disrupt (lots of angry, loud over-talking),
distract (finger-pointing, what-aboutisms) and defame (personal
attacks against Mueller and the FBI).

I don't know how cement-heads like those two get elected
into any public office. Angry, drunken, fratboys...

[mnhtnbb]

57. I expect concise answers from Mueller

to some very pointed questions from members of both committees. Remember, quite a few Dem members of both committees are attorneys. They also have been holding practice sessions to hear Mueller's testimony. I expect a number of sound bites to be generated from Mueller that are going to be played over and over again on the news that will make it clear to the American people that 45 has committed high crimes and misdemeanors.

The real question is, what are the Democrats going to do about it? Will they take the steps to open an impeachment inquiry?