Before the special counsel Robert Mueller's final report in the Russia investigation was released on Thursday, Attorney General William Barr laid out several reasons why he believed prosecutors did not come to a conclusion on whether President Donald Trump obstructed justice.

Barr ultimately made his own determination that Trump was not guilty of obstruction after reviewing Mueller's findings.

But Mueller's report directly contradicted nearly all of Barr's claims about what prosecutors uncovered in the obstruction case.

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When Attorney General William Barr offered his "principal conclusions" on the special counsel Robert Mueller's report in the Russia investigation, he listed specific reasons why Mueller did not make a "traditional prosecutorial judgment" on whether President Donald Trump obstructed justice:

Barr said Mueller's report did not conclude if Trump obstructed justice because of "'difficult issues' of law and fact" about whether Trump's actions and intent could amount to obstruction.

Instead of making a decision, Barr said, Mueller laid out "evidence on both sides of the question."

Barr said a 1973 decision by the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel (OLC), which said a sitting president cannot be indicted, did not factor into Mueller's decision not to accuse Trump of obstruction.

"The Special Counsel states that 'while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him,'" Barr said.

Barr said he relied on Mueller's evidence and ultimately concluded the president was not guilty of obstruction.

The Justice Department released a lightly redacted version of Mueller's report on Thursday.

The report stood in sharp contrast to nearly all of Barr's claims about Mueller's findings related to obstruction. It also raised new questions about what led Barr to conclude that there was no obstruction despite evidence to the contrary.

Mueller's report directly contradicted Barr's claims on obstruction on these key points: