Attorney General William Barr Bill BarrHarris faces pivotal moment with Supreme Court battle Hillicon Valley: DOJ proposes tech liability shield reform to Congress | Treasury sanctions individuals, groups tied to Russian malign influence activities | House Republican introduces bill to set standards for self-driving cars McCarthy threatens motion to oust Pelosi if she moves forward with impeachment MORE said Wednesday that he did not review the underlying evidence in special counsel Robert Mueller's report before he concluded that Mueller's findings did not reach the threshold to charge President Trump Donald John TrumpBiden on Trump's refusal to commit to peaceful transfer of power: 'What country are we in?' Romney: 'Unthinkable and unacceptable' to not commit to peaceful transition of power Two Louisville police officers shot amid Breonna Taylor grand jury protests MORE with obstructing justice.

Barr described this approach as a standard practice in which officials at the Department of Justice (DOJ) often rely on the characterization of the evidence uncovered in an investigation.

"We accepted the statements in the report as the actual record. We did not go underneath it to see whether or not they were accurate. We accepted it as accurate," Barr said Wednesday while testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee. ADVERTISEMENT

The revelation came during a line of questioning led by Sen. Kamala Harris Kamala HarrisHarris faces pivotal moment with Supreme Court battle Nearly 40 Democratic senators call for climate change questions in debates Joe Biden has long forgotten North Carolina: Today's visit is too late MORE (D-Calif.), a 2020 presidential candidate, who pressed Barr on what evidence he reviewed before determining that there was not sufficient evidence to charge the president with obstruction.

Barr noted that he was not the only one to make this determination, stating that, to his knowledge, outgoing Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein Rod RosensteinDOJ kept investigators from completing probe of Trump ties to Russia: report Five takeaways from final Senate Intel Russia report FBI officials hid copies of Russia probe documents fearing Trump interference: book MORE did not review the underlying materials, nor did other staffers in his executive office.

Barr, however, sought to defend his handling of the report.

"Prosecution memos go up to the supervisor. In this case it was the attorney general and deputy attorney general who decide on the final decision, and that is based on the memo presented to the U.S. attorney’s office," Barr said.

"We presented the evidence presented in the report. This is not a mysterious process. And in the Department of Justice we have cross memos and declination memos every day coming up, and we don’t go and look at the underlying evidence. We take the characterization of the evidence as true," he added.



His statements come at a time when Democratic scrutiny of the attorney general's handling of the Mueller report is reaching a fever pitch. Democrats, who have accused Barr of acting as the president's defense attorney, increasingly are calling on Barr to resign.

Barr has faced sharp backlash from Democrats for his handling of Mueller's more than 400-page report on his investigation into Russian election interference and possible obstruction of justice by Trump. The attorney general in March delivered a four-page summary of Mueller's investigation to Congress — a summary that the special counsel pushed back on.

A Justice Department spokeswoman said Tuesday that Mueller expressed “frustration” to Barr over the lack of context in his memo describing the special counsel's investigation’s findings.

Barr’s letter was sent nearly a month before he released a redacted version of Mueller’s 448-page report. Trump has seized on the report's findings as exonerating him of any alleged wrongdoing.