WATCH: Barr says he did not exonerate Trump on obstruction of justice

Attorney General William Barr says he didn’t exonerate President Donald Trump, because that’s not the job of the Justice Department.

Barr said at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday that he simply decided the evidence gathered by special counsel Robert Mueller was not sufficient to prove that the president obstructed justice.

Barr said, “I didn’t exonerate. I said that we didn’t believe that there was sufficient evidence to establish an obstruction offense.”

WATCH: "I didn't exonerate [the president]. I said that we did not believe that there was sufficient evidence to establish an obstruction offense," Attorney General William Barr tells the Senate Judiciary Committee. https://t.co/eAJd6Xbvt5 pic.twitter.com/eVBeco1aFd

— PBS NewsHour (@NewsHour) May 1, 2019

The attorney general made the statement as he explained that the Justice Department’s job is to identify crimes and prosecute them but not to pass judgment on behavior that’s not illegal.

He says the report is now in the hands of the American people, and if they don’t like Trump’s conduct, there’s an election in 18 months.

Read William Barr’s prepared Senate testimony on Mueller report