Sessions said he met twice with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, once at last year's Republican National Convention and later in his Senate office, but neither time about Trump's campaign, but rather in his capacity as a USA senator at the time before Trump nominated him as the country's top law enforcement official.
Several media outlets have reported that Comey told the Intelligence Committee last week that the Federal Bureau of Investigation was examining whether Sessions met with Kislyak at a Washington hotel previous year.
"I do not have any recollection of meeting or talking to the Russian ambassador or any other Russian officials", he said.
Democratic senators fumed about this "stonewalling", but on Tuesday at least, it served to protect Sessions from answering some legally and politically delicate questions.
In a similar exchange last week, Harris was cut off by McCain when she posed a question to Deputy Attorney Rod Rosenstein and Burr ended up stepping in and asked Harris to let Rosenstein speak. Attorney General Jeff Sessions is sworn-in on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, June 13, 2017, prior to testifying before the Senate Intelligence Committee hearing about his role in the firing of James Comey, his Russ.
During a contentious hearing of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, the former Trump campaign adviser also clashed with several senators, including Sen.
"Many have suggested that my recusal is because I felt I was a subject of the investigation myself, that I may have done something wrong", Sessions added. 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.
Mueller, the special counsel appointed to oversee the FBI's Russian Federation investigation by DOJ Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein after Trump canned Comey, has widened the probe to look at whether Trump attempted to obstruct justice. In his opening testimony, Sessions said, "I$3 did not have any private meetings, nor do I recall any conversations, with any Russian officials at the Mayflower Hotel".
Bernie Sanders says he is 'sickened by this despicable act'
Court records show that Hodgkinson's legal trouble started in the 1990s with arrests for resisting police and drunken driving. Filous said she saw the shooter hit a uniformed law enforcement officer, who she said was later evacuated by helicopter.
The special counsel appointed to investigate Russian influence in the 2016 presidential campaign has met with a Senate committee probing the same matter.
Wyden asked Sessions what problematic issues exist. Many questions aimed at Sessions had to do with Comey's firing by President Donald Trump.
But the attorney general told the senate he "did not remember that, but I understand that he was there".
But Mr. Sessions did succeed in tamping down suspicions over his meetings with Mr. Kislyak, Mr. Cramer said, and in particular their possible encounter at the Mayflower.
Sessions on Tuesday denied any involvement in possible collusion between Russian Federation and members of Trump's campaign, testimony Sessions called "unsettling".
Fired FBI director James Comey insinuated during his testimony last week that there was something "problematic" which was a factor in Sessions's decision to recuse himself from the Russian Federation investigation. "So I would push back on that", Sessions said.
"I take the president at his word - that I was sacked because of the Russian Federation investigation", said Comey during his Congressional testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee on June 6.
Comey was a "showboat" and "grandstander" who needed to go, Trump said in that mid-May exclusive interview with Holt.
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