WASHINGTON — House Democrats, facing some of the most striking evidence yet from Robert S. Mueller III that President Trump attempted to thwart his investigation, edged closer on Thursday to confronting a question they have long tried to avoid: whether the president’s behavior warrants impeachment.

Although the more than 400-page report made public on Thursday found “insufficient evidence” to conclude that Mr. Trump conspired in Russia’s interference in the 2016 election and cited legal and factual constraints preventing Mr. Mueller from charging Mr. Trump with obstruction of justice, the special counsel presented months of damning presidential behavior that Democrats said left it up to Congress to review.

“The conclusion that Congress may apply the obstruction laws to the president’s corrupt exercise of the powers of office accords with our constitutional system of checks and balances and the principle that no person is above the law,” Mr. Mueller wrote in the report.

House Democrats, in particular, took that legal analysis as a clear nod that Congress should take the next step to make its own judgment, although Republicans disagreed with that view.