But the event on Wednesday, which pre-empted daytime programming on every national broadcast network, was by its nature made for TV. And for the pundits offering play-by-play commentary, it could be hard to separate assessments of Mr. Mueller’s performance from the criteria that Americans use to judge other players’ credibility in the soap opera of national politics.
“Democrats wanted this hearing to be the movie version of the Mueller report,” said Major Garrett of CBS News. “Did Robert Mueller, the special counsel, act as the matinee idol, or the central galvanizing figure of that drama? No, he did not. Even when asked to read things from his own report, he refused.”
Some commentators attributed Mr. Mueller’s monosyllabism to a boxer’s feints: He was unwilling to grant either Democrats or Republicans a knockout moment that would condemn or exonerate Mr. Trump. The former special counsel had long made clear he would not discuss his investigation beyond “the four corners” of his report.
“Mueller has never cared a whit about public appearances or how he came off in the media, because he has always subscribed to the D.O.J. rule that you speak through your words and actions in court,” Matthew Miller, a former chief spokesman for the Justice Department under President Barack Obama, wrote in an email on Wednesday.
But Mr. Miller, a sharp critic of Mr. Trump, said that Mr. Mueller’s approach was “inadequate.”
“It would have been better for him to come to Congress ready to answer questions about the president’s conduct and how it should be interpreted, rather than punting over and over again,” he said.
Over the course of his 20-month-long investigation, Mr. Mueller not only declined to speak to reporters, he barely appeared in public. It was a deliberate strategy, minimizing critics’ ability to politicize his work and maximizing the aura that came to be attached to his name.