Democrats will hope three simple answers from Mueller kick-start Trump impeachment proceedings

Analysis: Five-hour session across two congressional committees will be first time former special counsel has answered questions on Russia report

For Democrats, this is five hours that really matter – finally being able to get Robert Mueller to answer on-the-record questions about his Russia investigation.

The former special counsel has already said that he will not answer questions during his appearance on Wednesday that go beyond what was contained within his 448-page report, but many Democrats do not need him too.

Answers to three simple questions is what dozens in congress hope will help spark impeachment proceedings against President Trump.

Did your report find there was no collusion? (Yes)

Did your report find there was no obstruction? (No: the report did not conclude either way, but did not exonerate the president)

Did your report give the president complete and total exoneration? (No)

The president has consistently said that the report “totally” exonerates him: “no collusion, no obstruction” is his mantra. Mueller’s report did not find sufficient evidence to establish a conspiracy between the Trump campaign and the Russian government to affect the election; but it did establish that Russia interfered and that Trump’s team would have expected to benefit from such actions.

However, Mueller’s report did find almost a dozen occasions where Trump possibly obstructed the probe and that individuals affiliated with the Trump campaign lied to Mueller, congress or both.

The Justice Department has said in a letter that Mueller should not speak about redacted material from his report – including material pertaining to pending criminal prosecutions, “uncharged third-parties” and “executive privilege,” such as “presidential communications privileges”.

But the report offers everything Democrats think they need and Mueller can reinforce that with yes/no answers, even if party leadership have so far been reticent to push forward with impeachment.

Impeachment could hinge on whether Trump obstructed justice by impeding the investigation and the Democrats behind that push need that idea to permeate more with the general public. Mueller just needs to articulate his findings on camera.

There are questions that could go further into Trump’s conduct around the investigation: Why wasn’t the president issued a subpoena?

Do you think Trump was candid in his responses to your questions?

Did you intend for the report to serve as a referral to congress for possible impeachment?

While Mueller has been nothing but professional in his conduct and will likely refer the committees to his report over such questions, that is largely academic.

The Judiciary Committee will deal with volume two of the report – which contains the questions over possible obstruction – for three hours starting at 8.30am local time (12.30pm GMT). Mueller’s answers will lead the morning news reports for hours and if the message is clear enough, most of the afternoon. The intelligence committee will then have two hours to talk about volume one and Russian election interference. That is important for efforts to protect the 2020 election, but will not have the blockbuster element of the first hearing.

Trump will have plenty of “executive time” to take in the morning hearings, so expect tweets.

He will also expect Republicans to follow his lead and question the make-up of the investigation and how it was conducted, essentially muddying the waters of its conclusions. But Mueller is just as likely to bat away those questions by referring to the report itself, having been very keen to appear as apolitical as possible.

The report was released in April and there are many across the nation, and indeed within congress, that will not have read it yet. Being able to put it back front-and-centre of the political discussion is important to Democrats and marks a difficult challenge for Republicans – although one soundbite of Mueller tripping over a question about his team is all the GOP will need to try and undermine Democrats.

On impeachment, future moves will come down to whether a majority of the Democratic caucus support it – having Mueller answer in a straight-forward manner in front of the watching nation may tip the balance.