If you skipped the Mueller book, the TV show could be an eye-opener

Many of the facts nailed down and discussed in special counsel Robert Mueller's 400-plus page report became known well before its official release three months ago.

As a result, news reports in April focused on whether President Donald Trump — or any of his campaign, business and government advisers — would face criminal charges and how the Congress would treat the findings.

Since even some lawmakers haven't read the report, it is easy to lose sight of the basics, which will come back into play Wednesday with Mueller's appearance before Congress.

The hearing matters politically, even with Mueller hinting his answers to committee members' questions will not  range beyond the text, which says despite White House spin:

• There were hundreds of contacts between the Trump 2016 campaign and well-placed Russians.
• A social-media campaign and a hacking operation emanating from inside Russia were biased toward helping Republican Trump against Democrat Hillary Clinton.
• Some individuals who were  interviewed deleted relevant communications or pleaded the Fifth Amendment.
• A number of Trump allies were found to have lied to probers and were penalized.
• Call it collusion or not, the probe confirmed that the campaign met with Russian representatives at Trump Tower after Donald Trump Jr. was told in an email that the meeting was part of "Russia and its government's support" for the Trump effort.
• Five hours after Trump famously appealed in a news conference for Russia to find Clinton emails, Russian operatives were attempting to hack into Clinton's email servers and nonpublic accounts.

That's all in the first volume. The question of obstruction comes in the second volume.

"Beginning in 2017," it states, "the President of the United States took a variety of actions towards the ongoing FBI investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 presidential election ...[that raised questions] including whether the president had obstructed justice in connection with Russia-related investigations." 

The question of obstruction seems to have been left to the Congress with its power to impeach.

"If we had had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so," Mueller said in May. "We did not, however, make a determination as to whether the president did commit a crime."

The president uses social media and news media all the time to hold his monologues before the American public. But Mueller's appearance promises a conversation of a different kind as Trump critics try to draw him out on the ugly details and Trump allies look to smear the investigators as having no legitimacy.

This televised talk-show, or docudrama, could prove important.

By Dan Janison

dan.janison@newsday.comDanJanison

Dan Janison is a member of the Newsday editorial board.