Justice Department special counsel Robert Mueller reportedly raised criticisms about Attorney General William Barr's summary of the probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election because he felt it left the impression that President Donald Trump was cleared of any possible obstruction of justice, according to multiple reports.

Mueller's critical letter was obtained by the New York Times and Washington Post, which first reported the existence of it late Tuesday. That news was confirmed by NBC News.

Mueller wrote a letter in late March to Barr complaining about the four-page summary, which was sent to Congress on March 24 and later released to the public. Mueller felt that the summary from the attorney general "did not fully capture the context, nature and substance of this office's work and conclusions."

Mueller suggested to Barr that the attorney general release the summary sections from Mueller's original reports, according to NBC News. The House Judiciary Committee's Democratic members released the letter in full Wednesday morning.

House tweet

Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec, in a statement, confirmed that Mueller wrote to Barr after the summary was released to express frustration over "the lack of context and the resulting media coverage," particularly about conclusions on obstruction of justice.

Barr said in the summary released last month that the probe did not conclude that Trump or anyone in his campaign "conspired or coordinated" with Russia in its influence campaign.

According to Mueller's letter to Barr, "There is now public confusion about critical aspects of the results of our investigation. This threatens to undermine a central purpose for which the Department [of Justice] appointed the Special Counsel: to assure full public confidence in the outcome of the investigations."

Here's the full comment from the Justice Department's Kupec on Mueller's complaints about Barr's summary: