Are you ready for tomorrow?

Mueller is.

Robert S. Mueller III’s longtime right-hand aide will appear beside him at the witness table during Wednesday’s hearing with the House Judiciary Committee to assist as needed as the former special counsel answers questions about his investigation, people familiar with the hearing said.

The Judiciary Committee signed off on the unusual arrangement after Mr. Mueller made a last-minute request that the aide, Aaron Zebley, be sworn in as a witness alongside him.

[...]

Mr. Zebley will not be under oath or theoretically allowed to answer lawmakers’ queries. But he can confer privately with Mr. Mueller, 74, if the former special counsel needs assistance or guidance about how to respond.

  NYT

There may actually be points that he's more familiar with than Mueller as well.

Why was it important to put Mueller's age in that paragraph?

It is not uncommon for government witnesses to bring aides along to congressional hearings for that purpose, though in almost all cases the aides sit behind, rather than next to, the witness. Mr. Mueller is being asked to account for two-years worth of investigative details uncovered by a large team of investigators and to do so while avoiding the disclosure of nonpublic information.

It was unclear if Mr. Mueller had made a similar request to the House Intelligence Committee, the panel holding the second of two highly anticipated hearings on Wednesday where Mr. Mueller is scheduled to testify.

Wouldn't it be odd if he didn't?

Mr. Zebley has worked closely with Mr. Mueller for years. He worked alongside Mr. Mueller during his 22-month investigation, served as his chief of staff when Mr. Mueller was F.B.I. director and followed him into private practice at the WilmerHale law firm.

Maybe he's Mueller's support animal.

He filled a similar role on the special counsel’s team, coordinating the team and serving as a go-between with the Justice Department.

Mr. Popkin identified Mr. Zebley as the investigation’s “deputy special counsel” and said he “had day-to-day oversight of the investigations conducted by the office.”

The two panels had previously expected to talk to Mr. Zebley and another former member of the special counsel’s team, James L. Quarles III, in private sessions after the public hearings. But those meetings were canceled after the Justice Department objected.

So what? They're not members of the Justice Department.

Representative Doug Collins of Georgia, the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, said the last-minute addition of a witness could violate House rules. He called on Democrats to reject the request.

“If Democrats believe it is the special counsel’s responsibility to testify to his report, they have no ground for outsourcing that duty at the expense of our committee’s integrity,” he said.

What's the problem? Nothing. They just live to object to everything, and in general, to make life miserable.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE:



Pretty sure Mueller knows that.  Barr knows it, too, so the question is.

..why did he write that letter?