WASHINGTON (CNN) - All eyes were on Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Tuesday as he testified before the Senate intelligence committee less than a week after ousted FBI Director James Comey's testimony.
Sessions, a senior member of Republican President Donald Trump's Cabinet and an adviser to his presidential campaign, faced criticism from Democratic senators for declining to answer their questions relating to conversations he had with Trump.
"Why don't you tell me?"
In his opening statement, Sessions also said he is bound to protect private communications with the president, suggesting he will not answer some questions about the firing of Federal Bureau of Investigation director James B. Comey.
It's not clear if Sessions meant to pay penance to Trump after their relationship strained over the President's concerns that Sessions burned him by stepping aside from the Russian Federation probe - but he did a good job defending the White House anyway. "DOJ traditionally does not discuss ongoing investigations in public, but ultimately must answer questions unless executive privilege is properly invoked and upheld". Ron Wyden. "I'm following historic policies of Department of Justice. He was preparing for the stop here today", said Sanders.
Americans don't want to hear that answers to relevant questions are privileged or off limits, " said Wyden.
Sessions has said that neither encounter had anything to with the Trump campaign in 2016 and that the meetings took place in his role as a lawmaker.
He said he was avoiding saying anything in case the president might later choose to exercise his executive privilege to withhold certain evidence. Federal agencies in the intelligence community released a report in early January concluding Russian Federation meddled in the presidential campaign cycle.
The testimony by Sessions marked the latest chapter in a saga that has dogged the Republican Trump's first five months as president and distracted from his domestic policy agenda including major healthcare and tax cut initiatives.
"Let me state this clearly: I have never met with or had any conversations with any Russians or any foreign officials concerning any type of interference with any campaign or election".
Assessing Donald Trump's self-defense in Comey drama
Comey said in his testimony that he took the President's statement to be an inappropriate directive. But he says it's discomfiting for a president to be in private communication with top prosecutors.
"He didn't ask", the official said, "but going into a hearing and saying we are going to do this ahead of time is not how the process works".
"The suggestion that I participated in any collusion or that I was aware of any collusion with the Russian government to hurt this country, which I have served with honor for over 35 years, or to undermine the integrity of our democratic process, is an appalling and detestable lie", he said.
Mr Sessions also repeatedly refused to answer questions about his private conversations with the president.
Such a move would be complicated and potentially politically explosive.
Sessions said he agreed with a letter drafted by his deputy, Rod Rosenstein, that Comey should be replaced.
A third area of vulnerability for Sessions also arose from the Comey hearing.
In March, he acknowledged he met twice past year with Russia's ambassador to Washington, Sergei Kislyak.
"Maybe that is because Jim Comey said last week as he said to Donald Trump that on three times, he assured him he was not under investigation", Cotton said. Days after that, Sessions also corrected his confirmation hearing testimony to inform the committee about the two meetings with Kislyak.
The abrupt dismissal of Comey prompted Trump's critics to charge that the president was trying to interfere with a criminal investigation. He didn't commit to testifying again either before the Senate intelligence committee or to providing any memos, copies of his schedule or other information that some of the Democrats were demanding today.
And he used carefully selected language to give himself an out about a potential unreported third meeting with Russia's ambassador to the USA, saying only that he did not "have any recollection of meeting or talking to the Russian Ambassador or any other Russian officials" during a Trump event at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C., during the campaign.
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