How Barr Found No Obstruction by Trump When Mueller Wouldn't

Democrats look at Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s conclusion that he couldn’t “exonerate” Donald Trump on obstruction of justice charges as vindication for their continued probes of the president.

Republicans pointed to other sentences in Attorney General William Barr’s letter on Mueller’s report to claim vindication of their own, noting Barr found there wasn’t enough evidence to form an obstruction case.

How can one report lead to two such different conclusions? The simple answer: Barr did something no one expected him to do, or at least not so quickly, and that...