FBI Director James Comey testifies before the House Intelligence Committee hearing into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election, on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., March 20, 2017.Joshua Roberts/Reuters
For nearly a month after being fired by U.S. President Donald Trump, James Comey has maintained a conspicuous silence.
Now, in a moment of high political drama, the former director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation has a chance to tell his side of the story.
On Thursday morning, Mr. Comey is scheduled to testify before the Senate intelligence committee in what is the most keenly anticipated congressional hearing in recent memory.
Lawmakers are expected to push Mr. Comey for answers to questions that have roiled the country since his dismissal on May 9. Chief among them: Did Mr. Trump ask Mr. Comey to shut down a portion of a federal investigation into possible collusion between the President's campaign advisers and the Kremlin?
Related: Verbatim: Dear Mr. Comey, you're fired: Four documents behind the FBI director's dismissal
The anticipation is further heightened by Mr. Comey's reputation for memorable testimony. A decade ago, Mr. Comey stunned lawmakers with a near-cinematic account of how, as a senior official at the Justice Department, he thwarted an attempt by George W. Bush to reauthorize a wiretapping program that he considered unlawful.
"This is must-see TV," said Tim Weiner, the author of a history of the FBI, of Thursday's hearing. "I cannot think of a single precedent" where the agency's director has testified about "potentially devastating conversations with the President."
Mr. Comey's testimony comes as Mr. Trump faces growing pressure over the Russia inquiry. Robert Mueller, Mr. Comey's predecessor at the helm of the FBI, was named special counsel to oversee the investigation last month in response to mounting concerns about possible political interference in the probe.
Mr. Trump has hired a private lawyer he has worked with for decades, Marc Kasowitz, to represent him in matters related to the Russia inquiry. And the White House is reportedly setting up a "war room" dedicated to responding to the investigation.
During his testimony on Thursday, Mr. Comey – himself a former prosecutor – will be guided by a desire not to impair Mr. Mueller's continuing investigation, experts said. That means he will likely decline to answer questions about the probe, which until early last month, Mr. Comey oversaw.
Lawmakers will grill Mr. Comey about recent reports that the FBI director had interactions with Mr. Trump that made him uncomfortable – encounters that Mr. Comey documented in memos written at the time.
The meetings include a dinner days after Mr. Trump's inauguration, where the President reportedly asked Mr. Comey in vain for a pledge of loyalty. The two men met alone again in February in the Oval Office, according to The New York Times, at which point Mr. Trump reportedly urged Mr. Comey to drop the investigation into Michael Flynn, the former national security adviser. "I hope you can let this go," Mr. Trump is reported to have told Mr. Comey.
Mr. Comey is also likely to face questions about the circumstances surrounding his abrupt dismissal on May 9. The former FBI director has a reputation for integrity but also for controversial decisions and Mr. Trump provided conflicting reasons for removing him, including frustration with the Russia inquiry.
David Leviss, a partner at O'Melveny and Myers in Washington who served as an investigator for two congressional committees, predicted that Mr. Comey will use his testimony to push back against the way President has characterized him (Mr. Trump said Mr. Comey was "a showboat" who "wasn't doing a good job").
Mr. Leviss also expects elements of surprise in Mr. Comey's testimony. "There always seems to be some kind of bombshell" when Mr. Comey is involved.
One focus of the hearing will be whether Mr. Comey believed that Mr. Trump's actions amounted to obstruction of justice, a federal crime. David Rivkin, a former White House counsel and Justice Department official, said that while Mr. Comey may criticize the President's actions during his testimony, he will leave the questions of their ultimate legality to Mr. Mueller's investigation.
As the hearing draws nearer, one wild card is whether the White House might attempt to block Mr. Comey from testifying. Mr. Trump could assert that his conversations with Mr. Comey are subject to executive privilege, a legal protection that allows the President to shield some deliberations from scrutiny.
But experts said such a move was unlikely. It would raise suspicions that Mr. Trump has something to hide and invite comparisons to Richard Nixon's behaviour during Watergate. What's more, to prevent Mr. Comey – now a private citizen – from giving testimony could require Mr. Trump to seek a court order, an unprecedented step.
Mark Rozell, a professor of public policy at George Mason University and the author of a book on executive privilege, said the key questions for Mr. Comey do not fall into areas recognized as meriting confidentiality, such as national security.
"'Did the President ask you for a pledge of loyalty? Did the President ask you to stop conducting an investigation?' I don't see how under any circumstance these would be protected by executive privilege," said Prof. Rozell.
Meanwhile, the answers to those questions are likely to transfix the nation. "This is high drama, there's no doubt about it," said Prof. Rozell. "Who needs House of Cards? We've got the real thing."