Mueller was recently appointed to lead the investigation into whether the Trump campaign coordinated with Russian Federation to influence the 2016 presidential election.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions has vehemently denied any personal involvement in Russia's interference in the 2016 USA presidential campaign, calling accusations that he discussed such an effort with Russian officials an "appalling and detestable lie". Several media outlets have reported that Comey told the Intelligence Committee in closed session last week that the Federal Bureau of Investigation was examining whether Sessions met with Kislyak at a Washington hotel a year ago. "Now you're not answering questions. You're impeding this investigation".
Wyden got into a heated exchange with Sessions during the hearing over whether or not Sessions violated his recusal from the Russian Federation investigation by supporting the termination of former FBI Director James Comey.
Collins: If you had known that the president ... was going to go on TV and in an interview with Lester Holt of NBC would say that "this Russian thing" was the reason for his decision to dismiss the Federal Bureau of Investigation director, would you have felt uncomfortable about the timing of the decision? - Sen. Ron Wyden to Sessions.
"There is no legally binding basis for refusing to answer questions unrelated to an ongoing investigation unless the President is invoking executive privilege", William Yeomans, a 26-year veteran of the Justice Department and fellow at American University Law School, told CNN."That privilege is not absolute - it can be overcome by a sufficient interest".
Democratic senators repeatedly criticized Sessions for dispatching Rosenstein to testify Tuesday in his place about the Justice Department's budget to an Appropriations subcommittee.
The attorney general said he now has "no knowledge" of the criminal investigation being headed by Robert Mueller, a former director of the FBI who was named as special counsel in the case by Sessions' Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who assumed oversight of the Russian Federation probe after Sessions recused himself.
Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House of Representatives' Intelligence Committee, which is conducting a parallel Russian Federation probe, said on Twitter that Congress "must compel responses using whatever process necessary".
He also said it would be inappropriate for him to get involved - given that he has recused himself from Russia-election-related matters.
"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 said. Martin Heinrich, who took issue with Sessions declining to answer questions.
Executive privilege is a power that can be claimed by a president or senior executive branch officials to withhold information from Congress or the courts to protect the executive branch decision-making process.
Democrats voiced frustration with Sessions' refusal to answer questions about his conversations with President Trump about the decision to fire Comey. "So I would push back on that", Sessions said.
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"While the President has the right to, he has no intention to do so".
Democrats were unhappy with Sessions declining to testify about his discussions with Trump, citing the longstanding policy.
"The suggestion that I participated in any collusion.is an appalling and detestable lie", Sessions said.
He said he never met with, or had conversations with, Russians about election interference.
"Further, I have no knowledge of any such conversations by anyone connected to the Trump campaign", he said.
US intelligence agencies concluded in a report released in January that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an effort to interfere in the election to help Trump in part by hacking and releasing damaging emails about Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.
Russian Federation has denied any such interference, and Trump has denied any collusion by his campaign with Moscow.
Sessions recused himself from the Russian Federation investigation in March after the revelations of the two Kislyak meetings.
Sessions acknowledged that he had met twice with Kislyak - once during the Republican National Convention and once in his Senate office - and he did not disclose that during his confirmation hearing.
Lawmakers for weeks have demanded answers from Sessions, particularly about meetings he had last summer and fall with the Russian ambassador to the United States, Sergey Kislyak.
Comey testified last week that as of February 14, he still believed Sessions had not recused himself - but that he nearly certainly would.
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