It has now been five months since the party took control of the House of Representatives, a month and a half since the redacted report by the special counsel Robert Mueller was released, and almost a week since Mueller stood before the nation and all but asked Congress to hold a lawless president accountable.

Yet Democrats have largely failed to even begin presenting a cohesive case to the public about Trump’s corruption and criminality. That could start to change next week, when the Judiciary Committee launches hearings into the Mueller report, but no blockbuster witnesses are yet lined up. The actual contents of the Mueller report should have been devastating for Trump. Instead, thanks to Bill Barr, an attorney general who acts more like a Fox News pundit, the administration has managed to obscure Mueller’s findings, and then go on the offense against the investigation itself…

As this drags on, it will be ever more difficult for Democrats to corral public attention. Opening a formal impeachment inquiry would put the question of Trump’s lawbreaking at the center of national life, and could give the House an edge in court. “It is very likely that the courts will regard our investigative powers as being at their zenith in the middle of an impeachment investigation,” said Raskin, who was a constitutional law professor before he got to Congress.