On Fox News Sunday, House Judiciary Committee member David Cicilline gave a tentative expected date for special counsel Robert Mueller's testimony to the committee: Wednesday, May 15.
Lawmakers were already almost certain to summon Mueller to testify about the conclusions of the report he delivered to Trump Attorney General William Barr, which laid out multiple apparent criminal acts by Donald Trump but which also determined that, according to Department of Justice procedures, the team could neither indict Trump for those crimes nor even directly accuse him. Mueller's testimony became even more critical, however, after news that Mueller sent Barr a formal letter objecting to Barr's characterizations of the still-secret report.
Mueller's testimony is now critical in determining whether Barr lied to Congress when he previously told lawmakers, after the receipt of that letter, that he did not know if Mueller had objections to that summary.
Multiple Democratic members of the House and Senate are already calling on Barr to resign. Mueller, who has been described as a close acquaintance of Barr, will be key to what happens next: If he demurs to Barr's characterization of events, Barr may be spared. If Mueller confirms in House testimony that he or his team indeed believes Barr's summation of Mueller's work misled lawmakers on the "content, nature, and substance" of the report, however, Congress is likely to move towards impeachment procedures.