Mr. Mueller’s team ultimately decided not to charge the president, citing numerous legal and factual constraints. But they pointedly declined to exonerate him — and they cataloged the attempts by Mr. Trump to escape an inquiry that imperiled his presidency from the start.

The special counsel also left the door open to the possibility that Mr. Trump could be charged after he leaves office.

Quote of note: “If we had confidence after a thorough investigation of the facts that the president clearly did not commit obstruction of justice, we would so state,” Mr. Mueller’s investigators wrote.

Barr’s news conference: The attorney general defended the president in a half-hour news conference ahead of the report’s release. He portrayed Mr. Trump as having been under unprecedented stress from the first days of his presidency from investigations and media scrutiny. Despite his frustration, Mr. Barr said, the White House fully cooperated. Watch the news conference.

Mr. Trump claimed vindication at a White House event and on Twitter. Democrats wasted no time in assailing the attorney general’s framing of the report.