It explains that under longstanding department policy, a president cannot be charged with a federal crime while he is in office. A special counsel’s office is part of the Department of Justice, and by regulation, it was bound by that department policy. So that was Justice Department policy. We conducted an independent criminal investigation and reported the results to the attorney general, as required by department regulations. The attorney general then concluded that it was appropriate to provide our report to Congress and to the American people.

Source: New York Times May 29, 2019 15:33 UTC