Key takeaways from the Jeff Sessions Senate hearing

But Sessions proved he is clearly capable of giving an answer in black and white.

In response to accusations that he misled the Senate Judiciary Committee in response to a question asked by U.S. Senator Al Franken (D-MN).

Sessions said under oath during his confirmation hearing that he had not had contact with the Russians during the election campaign, then admitted it to the Senate Judiciary Committee in a letter when reports surfaced he indeed had meetings.

In his dramatic appearance before former colleagues, Sessions also contradicted a contention made by former FBI Director James Comey at a hearing before the same panel last week. "It is premature for me to deny the president a full and intelligent choice about executive privilege", Sessions said.

"I recused myself from any investigation into the campaigns for president, but I did not recuse myself from defending my honor against scurrilous and false allegations", Sessions told the Senate Intelligence Committee. The questions prompted a previously cool Sessions to sputter a little bit, before blasting back at Wyden, suggesting that the senators themselves were guilty of leaking classified information.

Wyden asked Sessions what problematic issues existed.

US Attorney General Jeff Sessions vehemently denied Tuesday that he colluded with an alleged Russian bid to tilt the 2016 presidential election in Donald Trump's favor.

Sessions said on Tuesday he did not recuse himself because he felt he was a subject of the investigation himself but rather because he felt he was required to by Justice Department rules.

"I'm not able to be rushed this fast", Sessions said.

But Sessions said that despite his sense of problems at the Federal Bureau of Investigation, he never raised that with Comey.

Sessions testified that he met with a "senior ethics official" at the Department of Justice the day after he was sworn in as attorney general. The latest tempest includes stories that Trump is considering firing Robert Mueller, the special counsel who picked up where Comey left off. But his very public handling of the Clinton email investigation was chief among them.

"I walked away from this being highly concerned that there now seems to be a concerted effort by the administration to obstruct this investigation", Heinrich said on "OutFront". They don't decide prosecution policies.

Asked about Trump's own contention that the president fired Comey with the Russian Federation probe in mind, and regardless of any recommendation from anyone else, Sessions said: "I guess I'll just have to let his words speak for themselves".

James Comey and Jeff Sessions.

Sessions, of course, was appearing before the committee in regard to the ongoing investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 election.

Senators questioned if he had a role in the firing of FBI Director James Comey even though he had recused himself from the Russian Federation investigation. "That's just not right", Sessions said. He did not say he was using executive privilege, but rather adhering to longstanding tradition of Justice Department leaders not revealing private conversations with the president.

Sessions became attorney general in February but did not recuse himself from that probe until March. "And when asked I said that to the president".

Sessions said he was, indeed, "one of the last ones" to leave the White House after a meeting on February 14.

While no one but Sessions can know his exact motivation for dodging the questions, most of the questions he ducked involved whether or not he had discussed the investigations into Russian Federation and former national security adviser Michael Flynn, or their role in the decision to fire James Comey with the president.

The attorney general said there were some things he couldn't talk about because of long standing policies about keeping communications with the president confidential.

Sessions asserted that was not able to remember much of the details of his conversations or communications on the subject of Russian Federation.

"I did not have any private meetings, nor do I recall any conversations with any Russian officials at the Mayflower Hotel", said Sessions.

Sessions told Congress during his confirmation hearing he had no contacts with Russian officials previous year, but he later had to admit he met with Kislyak on two other occasions, according to the New York Times.