Democratic lawmakers hope to use former special counsel Robert Mueller’s public testimony next Wednesday to revisit dramatic episodes in which President Donald Trump attempted to derail or interfere with the investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election, the Washington Post reports. Mueller declined to come to any conclusion as to whether Trump obstructed justice and committed a crime. His prosecutors presented vivid details about an anxious and angry president willing to break long-standing traditions of presidential behavior to try to control the course of what was supposed to be an independent criminal investigation. Some Democrats contend that a public airing of the president’s behavior will move public and congressional opinion and may help build a case that Trump’s actions warrant impeachment.
“For many Americans this will be blockbuster, new information,” predicted Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA), who plans to quiz Mueller about the instances of possible obstruction of justice described in the report. “We just need him to convey the facts, and that will result in people learning . . . there is a lot of evidence that the president obstructed justice.” Republicans assert there is no need to rehash material Mueller described over hundreds of pages in a report that has been out since April. The ranking Republican on the House Judiciary panel, Rep. Douglas Collins (Ga.), predicted that the hearing is going to demonstrate “nothing is there” in terms of Trump’s alleged collusion with Russia.