(CNN) In his remarks prior to releasing the redacted report from special counsel Robert Mueller, attorney general Bill Barr said that President Donald Trump's lawyers were given the chance to read a final version of the redacted report before it was publicly released.

That has sparked a debate over whether Barr acted properly in sharing the report with the President's lawyers before sending it to Congress. In his remarks , Barr defended his decision, claiming it was "was consistent with the practice followed under the Ethics in Government act, which permitted individuals named in a report prepared by an Independent Counsel the opportunity to read the report before publication."

Facts first: It's unusual that Barr relies on an act covering independent counsels, since neither he nor Mueller operates under it. That said, there's nothing in the special counsel regulations that pertain to Barr and Mueller that either prohibit or mandate sharing advance copies of a report with outsiders.

The Ethics in Government act Barr references covers independent counsels (Robert Mueller, instead, was a special counsel). Regulation -- which expired in 1999 -- around independent counsels left it up to the courts to determine whether "any individual named in such report" would be permitted to review the report before its release. "(T)he court may make any portion of a final report ... available to any individual named in such report," according to the US code which addresses information disclosure from independent counsel reports.

Read More