U.S. Attorney General William Barr on Wednesday defended his rollout of Robert Mueller III's findings and tamped down claims that Mueller believed Barr's initial four-page memo outlining the principal conclusions of the special counsel's findings was misleading.

Barr said he spoke with Mueller by phone in late March, and that Mueller made “very clear” in that call he was not suggesting the Justice Department misled the public. Instead, Barr said, Mueller believed public reporting of the memo was inaccurate and wanted more information to be released related to Mueller's explanation for why he didn't reach a conclusion on obstruction.

Barr's testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday came moments after the public release of a March 27 letter Mueller sent to Barr complaining the attorney general's initial four-page statement on the special counsel's findings “did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance of this office's work and conclusions.”