WASHINGTON — Republicans and Democrats among Colorado’s congressional delegation expressed concern Thursday about evidence of Russian influence in the 2016 national election as described in the Mueller report but disagreed on whether President Donald Trump was vindicated.

The report from special prosecutor Robert Mueller, released with redactions Thursday, concluded that the Russian government did interfere in the election, largely by disseminating information that favored Trump in social media.

“The report also confirms what we already know, Russia interfered in our election,” said U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner, a Colorado Republican. “I will keep up the pressure on the Putin regime and pursue additional sanctions – they cannot go unpunished.”

Gardner is a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, where he has sometimes been critical of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The Mueller report offered no evidence that Trump directly colluded with the Russians, but said that members of his campaign had links to the Russians.

U.S. Senator Michael Bennet, a Colorado Democrat, said, “The redacted report makes clear that the president’s behavior, and that of his team, should deeply concern every American. The report documents the president’s failure to cooperate with the special counsel, efforts to mislead the American people, and troubling interactions with Russia, a foreign adversary.”

The report said that evidence was unclear on whether Trump tried to obstruct the investigation by hiding evidence or intimidating his accusers.

Mueller suggested that Congress continue to investigate the obstruction of justice allegations.

Members of Colorado’s delegation offered differing interpretations as to the extent the Mueller Report accused the president of misbehavior.

“After nearly two years, the Mueller report is now available to the public and it shows no collusion between the Trump Campaign and Russia,” Colorado U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colorado Springs, said in a statement. “It is time to move away from the false collusion allegations that stem from the Democrats and the media.”

Although U.S. Rep. Jason Crow, D-Aurora, did not directly accuse Trump of wrongdoing, he expressed frustration with statements from U.S. Attorney General William Barr during a press conference Thursday in which he said the report exonerated the president.

After release of the Mueller report, Barr told the media that Trump entered the presidency under suspicion of cooperating with the Russians to help his election campaign.

“At the same time, there was relentless speculation in the news media about the president’s personal culpability. Yet, as he said from the beginning, there was, in fact, no collusion,” Barr said.

Regarding the obstruction of justice allegations, Barr said there was no evidence of a crime, only that Trump was “frustrated and angered by his sincere belief that the investigation was undermining his presidency.”

Crow said the attorney general went too far in trying to protect the president’s public image.

“The role of the attorney general is to uphold the rule of law, not to be the personal lawyer for President Trump,” Crow said. “This morning’s press conference was deeply troubling and made clear that Attorney General Barr would rather serve the political agenda of the president than provide the American people with an independent and transparent assessment of the facts.”

Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Denver, shared skepticism about whether Trump was completely vindicated by the report.

“The report released today paints a very different picture than what the president and attorney general had hoped the American people would see,” DeGette said.

Rep. Ken Buck, R-Greeley, the newly appointed head of the Colorado Republican Party, was the Colorado congressman most critical of Democrats who complained about Trump’s actions.

“For two years, Democrats misled the American people with countless attacks on [Trump],” Buck said in a Twitter message. “Today, we can confirm there was no collusion and no obstruction of justice. Despite Mueller’s findings, it seems nothing will stop Democrats from trying to baselessly attack the president.”

The 448-page report said that that the Mueller investigation “found multiple acts by the president that were capable of exerting undue influence over law enforcement investigations.” It added that the efforts “were mostly unsuccessful, … largely because the persons who surrounded the president declined to carry out orders or accede to his requests.”

Obstruction of justice is a potentially felony offense by persons who knowingly alter or destroy evidence or who interfere with a government investigation, such as by intimidating or manipulating potential witnesses.

The Mueller report said that  “based on the facts and the applicable legal standards, we are unable to reach” a conclusion on whether the president obstructed justice. “While this report does not conclude that the president committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.”