"I do not", Sessions said when asked whether he knows whether the president records his conversations.
"We asked them relevant questions and they basically said "We don't feel like answering" and that's not going to be acceptable (with Sessions)", said Wyden.
In his testimony last week, Comey said he and Trump had a one-on-one meeting in the Oval Office on February 14 about the investigation into the former national security adviser, Michael Flynn. 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 knew that Director Comey, long-time experienced in the Department of Justice, could handle himself well", Sessions told Sen.
Sessions said during his hearing he is not sure if he would be able to answer the questions in a closed session.
Trump's personal counsel, Marc Kasowitz, has denied Comey's claims that Trump asked Comey for a loyalty oath and asked him to "let go" of Flynn.
"Thank you for saying that, Senator Cotton", Sessions said.
"I am not stonewalling", Sessions told Sen.
Barely a month after Trump dismissed Comey, rumors have been circulating that he may yet seek to sack Robert Mueller, the special counsel appointed following the FBI chief's ouster to head the agency's Russian Federation investigation.
High-ranking Republican leader shot at congressional baseball practice
House Majority Whip Steve Scalise of Louisiana has been shot at a congressional baseball practice, congressional officials say. His office said that before surgery for a wound in his hip he was in good spirits and spoke with his wife by telephone.
At a separate hearing Tuesday, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein declared he'd seen no basis for dismissing Mueller, the former Federal Bureau of Investigation director he appointed as special counsel after Sessions' recusal. On Monday, a friend of Trump said that the president was considering firing Mueller. This is a secret innuendo being leaked out there about me and I don't appreciate it and I've tried to give my best and truthful answers, " Sessions said.
Andrew Wright, a professor at Savannah Law School and associate counsel under former President Barack Obama, said it was not unusual for government employees to refuse to discuss conversations with the president in order to preserve the right to invoke executive privilege later.
WASHINGTON (AP) - Attorney General Jeff Sessions, a close adviser to President Donald Trump during his battle for the presidency, heatedly defended himself before his former Senate colleagues as he denied having an undisclosed meeting with Russia's ambassador to the United States and rejected any misconduct in the ouster of FBI Director James Comey.
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.
Attorney General-designate, Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala. testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2017, at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee'. But that changed Tuesday, with a variety of Republicans coming to Sessions' (and the White House's) aide. "I responded to his comments by agreeing that the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Justice needed to be careful to follow department policies regarding appropriate contact with the White House". Sessions said they had decided, even before they were confirmed for their positions at the Justice Department, that they needed to remove Comey because the Federal Bureau of Investigation needed a "fresh start". Sessions cited a Justice Department policy which blocks officials from testifying about private discussions with the President.
Much of Tuesday's testimony centered on why Trump made a decision to fire Comey - the official Department of Justice version is at odds with the president's televised explanation - but Sessions refused to describe his conversations with Trump on the issue.
He also said Comey should have shared his concerns about the Trump conversation with another Justice Department official, Dana Boente, who was then acting deputy attorney general, and would have been Comey's direct supervisor.
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