Mueller will rattle Trump's cage with a round of televised testimony

Just when you thought he had ridden off into the sunset, he’s back.

Robert Mueller, who officially resigned as special counsel last month, has agreed to testify in public about his two-year Russia probe.

Perhaps “agreed” is too strong a word: he has little choice – two congressional committees subpoenaed him, and the straight-laced ex-FBI guy was never likely to defy them.

He is, however, likely to be difficult. He insists that he has nothing to add to his report, that it stands alone, and is his final word on the matter.

Democrats will be keen to establish whether he wanted to say Donald Trump obstructed justice, and for some reason stopped short.

“Americans have demanded to hear directly from the special counsel,” the committee chairs say. But have they really?

It’s hard to imagine exactly what action would cause his hardcore base to waver. Trump support is almost tribal.

Meanwhile, Democrats are split on whether impeachment is the best option, and the focus seems to have shifted to the race for who could topple him in 2020, rather than removal by other means.

But even if the saga is starting to feel stale, the one thing that can jolt the national consciousness is televised testimony.

Even Mueller’s resignation triggered wall-to-wall coverage – testimony on Capitol Hill about one of the stories of our times will likely leave news junkies rapt, and make it hard for the wider public to ignore.

Trump, with an instinct for how his image will be front and centre, knows this very well. The news caused him to lash out at Mueller, dredging up accusations about the conduct of investigators, along with his now familiar refrain: “Presidential Harassment!”

On the wires, on the TV news, in The Independent and on the president’s Twitter, Round Two is about to begin.

Yours,

Dave Maclean

US features editor