Sessions says he was there for a speech by then-candidate Donald Trump and members of Sessions' staff also were there.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions became flustered under questioning from Democratic Sen.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions didn't answer a number of questions from senators during his testimony on Tuesday - but he didn't invoke executive privilege to avoid doing so.
Even before Sessions testified, attention in Washington swivelled to whether Trump might seek to fire Robert Mueller, named last month by the Justice Department to head a federal probe into the Russian Federation issue.
Sessions said it would be "absurd" to suggest that a recusal from a single investigation would render him unable to manage the leadership of the FBI.
Days after that, Mr Sessions also corrected his confirmation hearing testimony to inform the committee about the two meetings with Mr Kislyak. Sessions was eager to defend himself today but not so eager to exonerate the president, simply refusing to answer most of the questions that involved him.
Sessions was sworn in February 9 but did not actually step away from the investigation until March 2, the day after The Washington Post reported on his two previously undisclosed Kislyak meetings. Richard Burr, committee chairman to Sessions before his opening testimony.
"A very simple question that should be asked is did Donald Trump or any of his associates in the campaign collude with Russian Federation in hacking those e-mails and releasing them to the public?" the Arkansas Republican said during Sessions' hearing before the panel.
Sessions repeatedly refused to discuss private conversations with Trump on a wide variety of topics.
Sessions, the former USA senator from Alabama, called suggestions that he colluded with adversaries "an appalling and detestable lie". Sens. Al Franken of Minnesota and Patrick Leahy of Vermont have sought an FBI investigation and have requested to be briefed on what the bureau knows about any such encounter.
Sessions had agreed to testify before the committee regarding ongoing investigations into interference by the Russian government during the 2016 election.
UVA issues statement student held by NKorea
And an upcoming cross-border visit by North Korean taekwondo athletes is expected to further fuel optimism. "We're working on it". The statement from Leigh contradicts the more serious claim North Korea made in May. "He is on a medivac flight on his way home".
He disputed that his involvement in Comey's firing violated the recusal. That was not so, he said.
Sessions implies that he was recused from the Russian Federation investigation from Day 1 on the job.
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.
SESSIONS: And they believe this is consistent with my duties. There are none. I can tell you that for absolute certainty.
Russian Federation has denied repeatedly that it interfered in the US election, and Trump has denied any collusion by his campaign with Moscow.
The Senate committee is one several congressional panels that, along with a special counsel, is also investigating whether any Trump campaign officials colluded with the alleged Kremlin plot.
Sessions said to Sen. As attorney general, he also wrote a letter recommending that Trump fire former FBI Director James Comey, who Trump later admitted to firing, in part, because Comey was digging into "the Russian Federation thing". "Further, I have no knowledge of any such conversations by anyone connected to the Trump campaign". He said he would agree to dismiss Mueller only if there were a legitimate basis to do so. "It's something that we both agreed to that a fresh start at the Federal Bureau of Investigation was probably the best thing", Sessions said of his conversations with Rosenstein regarding replacing the Federal Bureau of Investigation director before Comey was sacked. Asked whether he would ever take any action to remove Mueller, Sessions said, "I would not think that would be appropriate for me to do". The FBI Director was ostensibly fired over his handling of the investigation into Hillary Clinton's emails. Ron Wyden. "I'm following historic policies of Department of Justice".
This isn't good enough for Rhode, however, because Sessions can't prove he was unaware of the president's reason for firing Comey. "I'm not sure what was in his mind specifically". 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. I don't even read that carefully. "I never learned the names of investigators".
On another hot-button issue, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., asked Sessions whether Trump records his conversations in the White House.
"No", Comey said. "Not with President Trump".
"I am not stonewalling", Sessions replied in a higher tone.
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