(CNN) The biggest misconception surrounding the special counsel probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election is that it will likely end in some sort of legal proceeding involving President Donald Trump. It won't -- for a bunch of reasons, the most important of which is that Robert Mueller, who is running the investigation, doesn't seem to believe a sitting President can be indicted.

The much more likely outcome is that Mueller releases the findings from his investigation sometime this fall — and lets the chips, as they relate to Trump, fall where they may. Which means — and this is what Trump and his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani have understood for months — that, ultimately, this isn't a legal fight, it's a public relations one.

Giuliani tipped his hand on that strategy Monday in an interview with CNN's Alisyn Camerota. "I'll be here with my version of the report and they'll have their version of the report and the American people, in that sense, are going to decide it," Giuliani said of the Mueller investigation.

"My version" vs. "their version." What that construct from Giuliani misses, of course, is that one of the "versions" will be the result of a Justice Department-commissioned investigation led by the former head of the FBI that has already spanned more than a year. The other "version" will be Giuliani's cable TV appearances and President Trump's tweets.

That is, on its face, an apples-and-oranges comparison. But remember what Giuliani and Trump know: The debate over whether and how much Trump did wrong (if anything) is almost certain to be decided in the court of public opinion, not an actual court. And in the court of public opinion -- particularly given the fealty that rank-and-file Republicans have shown (and continue to show) to Trump, the comparison is far more favorable to Trump's side.