Attorney General Jeff Sessions heatedly denied on Tuesday having an undisclosed meeting with Russia's ambassador to the US or conversations with any Russian officials about the USA election that sent Donald Trump to the White House.
He added: "Sen. Franken asked me a rambling question, after some six hours of testimony, that included dramatic, new allegations that the United States intelligence community has advised President-elect (Donald) Trump that there was continuing exchange of information during the campaign between Trump's surrogates and intermediaries for the Russian government".
Sessions on Saturday said he would appear before the intelligence committee, which has been doing its own investigation into Russian contacts with the Trump campaign.
Senator Jack Reed--who confronted Sessions about him flip-flopping on his opinion of Comey's handling of the Clinton email investigation--spoke with Chuck Todd and expressed his dissatisfaction with how the Attorney General didn't answer some important questions.
Instead, Sessions repeatedly said he is "not able to comment" or "not able to discuss" certain topics, citing either Justice Department "longstanding policy", and later, that he is protecting President Donald Trump's right to later on assert executive privilege "if he chooses".
The former Alabama senator defended himself against accusations that he misrepresented himself during his confirmation hearing by saying he hadn't met with Russian officials during the campaign.
And he can expect questions about his involvement in Comey's May 9 firing, the circumstances surrounding his decision to recuse himself from the FBI's investigation, and whether any of his actions - such as interviewing candidates for the FBI director position or meeting with Trump about Comey - violated his recusal pledge. He never, he insisted, knew anything about the Russian Federation probe or had any role in it.
Despite his statement about the reasons for his recusal, the attorney general did not actually step aside from the Russia probe until March 2, the day after The Washington Post reported on his two previously undisclosed meetings with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.
Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat who sits on the intelligence committee, said he fears that administration officials will "blur the lines between executive privilege and classification, and over-classification". But I have to tell you, Senator King, I know nothing but what I've read in the paper. "There are none, Sen Wyden, there are none", Mr Sessions insisted, his voice rising.
Later, Sessions directly blasted Comey for his testimony in private last week, "This is a secret innuendo out there being leaked about me - and I don't appreciate it".
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As for his role in Comey's firing, Sessions told senators that he and his second-in-command, Rosenstein, had a "clear view ... that we had problems there, and it was my best judgment that a fresh start at the Federal Bureau of Investigation was the appropriate thing to do".
"No ... yes, I do." responded a grinning Sessions.
"Beyond that, what I said earlier, I don't have anything more to add", Sanders said, when a reporter asked if Trump has confidence in Mueller.
In addition, Comey has said Sessions did not respond when he complained that he did not want to be left alone with Trump again.
The Justice Department subsequently released decades-old memos from its Office of Legal Counsel that it said supported Sessions' position.
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. But he did allow for the possibility that he encountered him in a reception that he says was attended by a couple dozen people, though he said he had no specific recollection of that.
Sessions recused himself from the DOJ probe because he had multiple contacts last summer with Russian ambassador Sergei Kislyak, the same diplomat who was at the center of the dismissal of former national security adviser Michael Flynn.
When Comey testified, there was nobody carrying water for the White House on the Senate Russia probe - even though half of the panel is comprised of Senate Republicans.
The White House said Trump thinks Sessions "did a very good job" in his testimony. "I don't know, Sen".
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