This is another one of my posts that suggest we don't know as much about what's happening as we think. Multiple sources are reporting that Robert Mueller's long-awaited report will be turned in next week to Attorney General William Barr. As far as I can tell, Mr. Mueller hasn't said this and even if that's his plan at the moment, he could probably delay it further if he suddenly came upon some new bit of evidence. So let's just say it seems likely but maybe it won't be turned in next week.
Whenever it's submitted, we don't know how long the Attorney General will take to read it, digest it and what exactly he will do with it. We can say with some certainty that there will be fights by the press, Congress and perhaps other parts of government to get their mitts on it. This is such volatile, uncharted territory that no one has a clue what will happen.
I do think it's safe to say that someone will be pretty unhappy with it. You might have those who've been waiting for it to drive a stake through the heart of the Trump administration feeling it doesn't pound a big enough stake. You might have those who back Trump condemning it as a fact-free partisan hit job. If I absolutely had to bet, I'd say we'll get a certain amount of both but we really don't know.
Some people are suggesting that Trump's increasing attacks on the press (i.e., "The Enemy of the People," which in this case means "The Enemy of Trump") mean that he knows it'll be really bad for him. But Trump strikes me as a guy who explodes at any criticism…or even anything that doesn't say he's wonderful and perfect and couldn't be any better. He might well damn it if all it says is that his ties are too long. So I don't think Trump's "Don't believe anything except what I tell you" posture tells us that he knows the report will be bad.
People have so many unwarranted expectations about this report. You have people saying Mueller has proven Trump is guilty of some kind and others saying he hasn't. We haven't seen a word of this report yet but, well, if you love or hate Trump enough, you already know what you want it to say so why wait?