I doubt that we will get anything useful from, Mueller. I put my hopes in him before

[mfcorey1]

and was left feeling judicially castrated. I will proceed with caution for the hearing and pray that I am wrong.

[Funtatlaguy]

1. He certainly could choose to be a true patriot. He won't.

[watoos]

3. What a terrible thing to say about a Vietnam war hero.

[JI7]

5. he is a patriot. his report made the case that trump should be removed

[emmaverybo]

17. Already been one. Your comment is disturbing, nt

[watoos]

2. It isn't up to Mueller to volunteer information,

The burden is on what questions the Democrats ask him. Mueller won't volunteer information but Mueller will not lie.

This hearing is Democrats to blow, they better come prepared.

[stopdiggin]

10. don't agree

Whether Mueller is helpful or not is substantially under his control. He could very easily lead things to places that he thinks needed to be exposed. If he falls into the "bare minimum" scenario that you describe .. it is because HE has personally decided that information should not be shared (at least in this forum). I, personally, am making no prediction as to which path he might choose to take. But it is his path to choose.

(and all of this is, of course, set apart from any information that he thinks he cannot share)

[JI7]

4. the Mueller report is already useful

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

6. Depends on what questions are asked of him.

He might not testify about anything outside the report, but good questions will require him to say plainly what his investigation found regarding Trump's acts of obstruction of justice, not to mention the fact that the Russians really did interfere with the election.

[BlueTsunami2018]

7. There's enough damning evidence in the report.

The problem is, few people know about it. The questioning will be key. He’s going to stick to what’s in there, so get him to answer yes or no questions that bring it all out.

If you expect him to demand Тяцмр be arrested or whatever, you’re going to be disappointed.

[True Dough]

8. Will at least be interesting to see

how the ReThug stooges do their best to try to tear away at his credibility, making fools of themselves once again.

[RockRaven]

9. If the Dems on the committee don't coordinate the hell out of their questions, then

this country is going suffer dearly, because an incompetent handling of this hearing will vastly increase Trump's chances of a second term.

Mueller is not going to OFFER a single f-ing inch. He has made that very clear. But he is also not going to self-immolate on Trump's behalf.

The Democratic members of the committee need to be prepared to TAKE every single millimeter of ground. And to do so by asking BRIEF, DIRECT questions with SPECIFIC answers.

[uponit7771]

11. THIS !!!!

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

12. Somehow I think the experienced professionals on the Judiciary and Intelligence committees

have figured that out. This isn't their first rodeo; many are former prosecutors. They'll manage.

[RockRaven]

14. A good number of them have failed to make the most of their opportunities in the past

and in a manner which makes them look either poorly prepared or too enamored with their own voice to make the most of their limited opportunities.

I do not think that most of those members of Congress need my advice, but I *do* think hopeful Democratic voters are going to find a) less of a savior than they were anticipating in Mueller and b) more missed opportunities than ought to have existed.

[stopdiggin]

13. open questions might help

And herein lies the problem with the old lawyers adage "never ask a witness on the stand a question that you DON'T know the answer to." In this case, we NEED answers and info we don't yet have. So the questions might have to be probing and experimental.

[RockRaven]

15. Except that Mueller has already indicated he isn't going to offer anything beyond the report.

Better to make him say something out loud on live national television which is in the report/already known than ask him questions which he answers with a non-answer.

He's not going to be proactively helpful. So get out of him what you know you can get out of him. A video clip is worth ten thousand written words.

[stopdiggin]

16. you make valid points (nt)