Washington (CNN) Special counsel Robert Mueller explained for the first time why he and his family left President Donald Trump's Virginia golf club in the redacted version of his report released on Thursday.

The footnote on pages 80 and 81 of the redacted report released by the Justice Department on Thursday was one of the only times Mueller defended himself against criticism from the President. Trump had previously used the fact that Mueller and his family left the club to claim he had a conflict of interest.

WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 19: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Robert Mueller waits for the beginning of a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee June 19, 2013 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. Mueller confirmed that the FBI uses drones for domestic surveillance during the hearing on FBI oversight. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

In October 2011, Mueller wrote a letter to the Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia, resigning his family's membership, explaining, "we live in the District and find that we are unable to make full use of the Club," according to footnote 529 in the redacted report. In the same letter, Mueller asked "whether we would be entitled to a refund of a portion of our initial membership fee," which the report says was paid in 1994.

The club responded about two weeks later saying the resignation would be effective October 31, 2011, and that they would be "placed on a waitlist to be refunded on a first resigned / first refunded basis," according to the report.

The Muellers did not have further contact with the club, the report reads.

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