WASHINGTON—The Justice Department on Friday said a federal judge’s criticisms of Attorney General William Barr’s handling of the special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation “were contrary to the facts.”

Judge Reggie Walton of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia said in a ruling on Thursday that Mr. Barr put forward a “distorted” and “misleading” account of Mr. Mueller’s findings in summarizing the report weeks before a redacted version was released to the public.

Judge Walton, who was appointed by President George W. Bush, said he would review the full Mueller report, including the material not publicly released, to give Americans confidence that the Justice Department’s redactions were made for good cause.

The judge’s ruling came in a Freedom of Information Act case brought by BuzzFeed journalist Jason Leopold and the Electronic Privacy Information Center, a group that advocates on civil liberties and privacy issues. Both sought access to the special counsel report under the act, which provides for public access to government information.

Kerri Kupec, a Justice Department spokeswoman, responded Friday by saying the original redactions in the public version of Mr. Mueller’s report were made by department attorneys in consultation with the special counsel’s team as well as prosecutors and other officials. Career officials then reviewed the entire report in response to the media requests, she said, “a process in which the Attorney General played no role.”