Moreover, during his remarks, Barr diverged from the language of the report in other ways. The report stated that “the investigation did not establish” conspiracy. Instead, Barr said that the special counsel “found no evidence” that any American participated in the conspiracy to interfere with the election. These are two very different things. In fact, Mueller seemed to anticipate that some might misread his findings, including in his report the following language: “A statement that the investigation did not establish particular facts does not mean there was no evidence of those facts.” He likely did not expect the person to misconstrue his findings would be the attorney general of the United States…

Perhaps the most egregious remark that Barr made during the press conference made was when he said that the White House “fully cooperated” in the investigation. Barr made this statement despite the fact that Trump refused to participate in an interview with Mueller, something Mueller’s team sought for a year. Mueller’s report noted the problems that resulted from allowing Trump to respond to written questions, responding more than 30 times that he did not recall the answer. Trump’s failure to sit for an interview prevented Mueller’s team from asking follow-up questions or attempting to refresh his recollection with documents.

Mueller gave up on the idea of an interview because he believed that Trump would resort to “lengthy constitutional litigation” that would unduly delay the investigation. The report also shows that in addition to refusing to participate in an interview, Trump engaged in obstructive behavior throughout the investigation, attempting to fire Mueller, editing a press release in a misleading way, directing White House Counsel Don McGahn to lie, and seven other episodes of obstructive behavior. That hardly sounds like full cooperation.