Attorney General Jeff Sessions says he was never briefed on Russian Federation probe

Attorney General Jeff Sessions looks through papers prior to testifying before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday. Faced with statements by President Trump that he fired Comey in part because of the Russian Federation probe, Sessions stood by his argument that Comey had earned negative reviews due to the "stunning" way he handled the Hillary Clinton email investigation, saying Comey never should have spoken publicly about it during the 2016 election campaign.

Part of that is that Sessions, obviously, was not in the room in Comey's one-on-one meetings with the president, where Comey said Trump directed him to back off the FBI's investigation into fired national security adviser Michael Flynn.

He opened his testimony with a fiery assertion that he never had any conversations with Russians about "any type of interference" in the 2016 presidential election.

- The details of a February 14 Oval Office meeting, where Sessions and other top aides left the room and Trump talked to Comey alone.

Democratic Sen Ron Wyden of OR asked Mr Sessions about suggestions arising from Mr Comey's testimony last week that there was something "problematic" about his recusal.

While the Justice Department has said Sessions recused himself in March because of his involvement in Trump's campaign, Comey testified that the Federal Bureau of Investigation knew of information that would have made it "problematic" for Sessions to be involved.

Sessions said during his hearing he is not sure if he would be able to answer the questions in a closed session.

- Sessions corroborated that Comey came to him the next day and asked not to be alone with the president.

Now, I don't know if that's the case, because he wouldn't answer, but as it goes to the very heart of whether the president sought to interfere or obstruct the Russian Federation investigation, we need to use whatever compulsory process is necessary to get those answers. He also said he hasn't spoken to special counsel Robert Mueller about the Russian investigation.

Sessions also said he has "no knowledge of any such conversations by anyone connected to the Trump campaign".

He was being asked about Comey's testimony.

He said that he takes cybercrime more seriously today than he did when he was a member of the Senate.

SESSIONS: No - yes, I do.

Sessions had recused himself from oversight of the FBI's Russian probe, owing to his meetings with Kislyak. "And when asked I said that to the president".

"That would be a partisan fire fight if they were to fire Mueller", said Leahy.

Senate Democrats have raised the possibility that Sessions and Kislyak could have met there, though Justice Department officials say there were no private encounters or side meetings.

"You said you would solemnly swear to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth", Heinrich told Sessions.

Despite that recusal, a frustrated Sessions made clear he would not stand idly by as lawmakers - and Comey - cast aspersions, accusing him of potential wrongdoing.

Politico reported that intelligence officials believe Russian Federation is mapping the US telecommunications infrastructure to potentially disrupt it. McCain continued to ask Sessions about reports that Russian Federation had developed a weapon to disrupt the USA electrical grid, similar to the one it used in Ukraine in 2015.

Comey testified that after what he called a "disturbing" private talk with Trump, he went to Sessions. He insisted he would not discuss his conversations with Mr Trump even though the president had not invoked his executive privilege to prevent such testimony.

"The Judiciary Committee is responsible for oversight of the Justice Department and one of the issues here does involve the ability of the Justice Department to conduct a fair investigation into the matter", said Davis.

Trump fired Comey on May 9, and bragged to Russian officials a day later about it, according to news reports. "I affirmed his concern that we should be following the proper guidelines of the Department of Justice, and basically backed him up in his concerns".