WASHINGTON When former special counsel Robert Mueller testifies on Wednesday, many House Democrats hope it will be the moment of reckoning they expected from the initial report itself.

When Mueller first dropped his report in April, it didnt have the type of impact Democrats wanted. It didnt do much to sway public opinion . And supporters of President Donald Trump who heard Mueller speak still thought the report cleared him .

Much of that is because Attorney General William Barr had laid the groundwork for Trump, creating a narrative that the report had been overblown all along with the mantra of no collusion, no obstruction. But its also because Mueller himself has refused to tell lawmakers how to do their job.

Instead of saying the president committed crimes and should be impeached, Muellers report suggested that the president may have committed crimes and that its not up to the U.S. Justice Department to accuse a president of wrongdoing.

The Constitution requires a process other than the criminal justice system to formally accuse a sitting president of wrongdoing, Mueller said in May , without uttering the word impeachment.

Mueller has said that if he had to testify, he would reiterate whats already in the report. But Democrats are hoping this time will somehow be different.

Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), who is still considering whether to support an impeachment inquiry, said Mueller just explaining his findings on camera may make impeachment more popular.

Simply telling the narrative of the report itself will come as news to most Americans, because most Americans understandably have not read a 408 page report, Connolly told HuffPost. And so when they hear the details, just even if he reads the report, it is going to be new information and devastating information about this president.

While Connolly said he isnt holding his breath for any new information, Democrats partly have themselves to blame for Trump evading the ramifications of whats already been released. Democratic leadership quickly developed the talking point that members needed to see the underlying evidence in the report and hear from Mueller before making a judgment about impeachment.

But that line also meant Democrats hadnt already seen enough to move forward. They downplayed the evidence that was in the report themselves, when in reality there was plenty of damning evidence released in Muellers report.

Thats why Muellers testimony could be a do-over. Its an opportunity for fence-sitting Democrats to acknowledge what Trump has done, and its an opportunity for Democrats to finally correct the narrative that Trump was somehow cleared of wrongdoing.