The Note: Mueller show competes with Trump's framing

The TAKE with Rick Klein

Few expect the star witness to shine.

That means that when Robert Mueller appears on Capitol Hill Wednesday morning and afternoon, both the light and the heat are likely to be delivered by members of deeply partisan committees in a bitterly divided House.

If that's how it plays out, President Donald Trump might enjoy a day that ranks among the most hotly anticipated of his presidency. While Mueller is expected to stick to his script, amid some last-minute wrangling around staffing and protocols, Trump has already rewritten the whole rulebook.

Democrats fear that a day they long craved could wind up producing few fresh headlines. They have downplayed expectations, hoping for education rather than bombshells -- and all but giving up on the possibility that Mueller says he would have indicted the president if he was allowed to.

Republicans, meanwhile, get to play Trump-style defense. Their messaging will echo the "witch hunt" tweets, while putting the origins of the Russia investigation under scrutiny -- again.

The man to watch, of course, is Mueller. The Justice Department is expecting him to follow the rules, and the political class is expecting him to obey Washington's norms.

Trump isn't bound by any of that. And he'll still be commenting when the day is long since finished.

The RUNDOWN with MaryAlice Parks

Buckle up, the 2020 Democratic primary might get really rocky, very fast.

Over the last week, candidates have upped their tough words for each other.

Sen. Cory Booker called former Vice President Joe Biden the "architect" of a failed criminal justice system. Booker has been ratcheting up his attacks against Biden's in this space, calling out the effects of old crime bills.

And after Biden released his criminal justice plan on Tuesday, Booker wrote on Twitter, "It's not enough to tell us what you're going to do for our communities, show us what you've done for the last 40 years...You created this system. We'll dismantle it."

Sen. Bernie Sanders, in an interview with The New York Times, claimed Biden was being alarmist and "sounding like Donald Trump" when talking about Sanders' Medicare for All plan.

Also defending health care ideas, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio responded to pushback from former Rep. Beto O'Rourke by saying, "Let's leave the lazy fear-mongering tactics to Trump."

The brash, boldness of these kinds of attacks -- especially this early in the race -- is a sign that the pressure to break through is heating up the race this summer.

The TIP with Beatrice Peterson

In the wake of the post-debate spat between Biden and Sen. Kamala Harris, a new riff has been created, this time involving Harris and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard. This could be a preview of the upcoming presidential debate, when the two will share the stage in Detroit with only businessman Andrew Yang between them.

It all started after the first debates in Miami when Gabbard said on Twitter that Harris had made a "false accusation that Joe Biden is a racist." When asked about Gabbard's remarks on ABC's "The View," Harris said, "We're on a debate stage. And if you have not prepared, and you're not ready for somebody to point out a difference of opinion about the history of segregation in our country, and what was necessary to deal with that, which at that time was busing, then you're probably not ready."

Gabbard, who was on "The View" Monday, said personal attacks, "just for the sake of trying to push yourself forward in the campaign -- I think are underhanded." And on Tuesday, Gabbard jabbed at Harris on "Outkick the Coverage with Clay Travis" on Fox Radio, saying that Harris isn't qualified to serve as commander in chief and lacks the temperament for the job.

Staffers have added to the back and forth, with Harris' national press secretary, Ian Sams, who said, "She sits on the U.S. Senate Intelligence and Homeland Security committees." And Harris' communications director, Lily Adams, responded on Twitter saying, "Definite hard pass on taking national security advice from Assad's cheerleader," referencing Gabbard's 2017 trip to Syria and meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Gabbard's press aide Cullen Tiernan wrote on Twitter that, "@TulsiGabbard keeping it 💯 when it comes to the unqualified freshman senator from California."

THE PLAYLIST

ABC News' "Start Here" podcast. Wednesday morning's episode features ABC News Chief Legal Analyst Dan Abrams and ABC News' Katherine Faulders, who preview Robert Mueller's anticipated testimony. ABC News' Serena Marshall tells us about the efforts some people took to block Immigration and Customs Enforcement from carrying out raids over the weekend. Then, ABC News Senior Foreign correspondent Ian Pannell tells us what's next for Britain after the election of Boris Johnson as prime minister. http://apple.co/2HPocUL

ABC News' "Powerhouse Politics" podcast. Renowned historian and biographer Douglas Brinkley speaks with ABC News' Political Director Rick Klein about the 50th anniversary of the historic moon landing. Then, Klein and Senior National Correspondent Terry Moran talk about former special counsel Robert Mueller's testimony on Capitol Hill. https://bit.ly/2FA0CIm

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