Former FBI Director James Comey’s testimony Thursday to the Senate Intelligence Committee promises to be one of the most highly anticipated congressional appearances in years. Indeed, for a comparable high-stakes hearing, you have to go back to 2015, when Hillary Clinton testified before the House Benghazi Committee. Or 1991, when Anita Hill testified in Clarence Thomas’ Supreme Court confirmation hearing. Or 1987, when Oliver North testified on the Iran-Contra scandal. So Thursday is THAT big. And there will be four storylines to watch:

1. Why does Comey think President Trump fired him? Did it have anything to do with the Russia investigation and a possible obstruction of justice?
2. Does Comey confirm that Trump asked him to let go of the probe into former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn?
3. Does Comey confirm that Trump asked him to pledge his loyalty to the president?
4. And do Trump and his administration try to stop Comey’s testimony by invoking executive privilege? On Friday, the New York Times, citing two senior administration officials, reported that Trump doesn’t plan to prevent Comey’s testimony.

I believe the fourth one is not going to happen.  Trump may want it to happen, but he doesn’t understand that it would backfire.

JUST IN: White House: Pres. Trump will not invoke executive privilege in effort to block Comey from testifying before Congress this week. pic.twitter.com/mvhGOPE1ry

— NBC Nightly News (@NBCNightlyNews) June 5, 2017

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The other question Comey is sure to get asked is “Why did you testify before (under oath) that you did not feel any pressure to drop the Russia investigation?”  It is quite possible that Comey’s views on whether or not there was pressure have changed when you had one salient factor: HE GOT FIRED.  Sometimes you don’t realize the warning lights on the car are for real until the engine falls out.

Keep in mind: Comey knows how to tell a story, as the Washington Post’s Paul Kane recounted several years ago about the former FBI director’s congressional testimony into his intervention when Bush Attorney General John Ashcroft was hospitalized. “… Comey wanted to tell this amazing story about a constitutional crisis in the hospital room of then-Attorney General John Ashcroft in 2004. So [former Chuck Schumer staffer Preet] Bharara arranged for Comey to testify before a Senate subcommittee. The usually loquacious Schumer stopped asking Comey questions and just let him give a long statement telling the tale of something that seemed like a movie plot. You could hear a pin drop in the Dirksen hearing room, and in fact we did, when one reporter — stunned at what he was hearing — literally just dropped his pen onto the press table.”

I predict a bombshell.