Attorney General William Barr on Thursday drew criticism from the Democratic chairmen of six House committees for his characterization of why special counsel Robert Mueller had opted not to render a verdict on whether the president obstructed justice.

Mr. Barr said Thursday morning that Mr. Mueller told him that his decision not to charge Mr. Trump for obstruction was not solely based on Office of Legal Counsel guidelines that a sitting president can't be indicted.

"He was not saying that but for the Office of Legal Counsel opinion he would have found a crime; he made it clear that he had not made the determination that there was a crime," Mr. Barr told reporters.

Mr. Mueller in his report is more nuanced. In describing the factors that guided the obstruction investigation, Mr. Mueller first cites the Office of Legal Counsel opinion on indicting sitting presidents and adds that aside from the office's constitutional view, "we recognized that a federal criminal accusation against a sitting President would place burdens on the President's capacity to govern."

Mr. Mueller then cites three other points: The first, that investigators conducted a "thorough factual investigation in order to preserve evidence," noting that the OLC opinion does not give a president immunity after he leaves office; the second, that "fairness concerns" led investigators not to "apply an approach that could potentially result in a judgment that the president committed crimes" and the third, that investigators could not conclude that the president had not committed any criminal conduct.

In other words, Mr. Mueller didn't determine whether the president committed a crime because of the way he opted to approach the investigation—in which the Office of Legal Counsel opinion was a factor.

The Democratic chairmen in their statement said Mr. Barr's assertion was in "direct contradiction" to Mr. Mueller's report.

"The Special Counsel stated that fairness concerns counseled against potentially reaching that judgment of criminal conduct when no charges can be brought,’" they wrote. "Nor do we believe it was the Attorney General’s place to make such a judgment, either, and it is now apparent that the Special Counsel expressed no desire to have Barr make that decision himself."