US Attorney General Jeff Sessions has appeared before the Senate Intelligence Committee to give his side of the story on the ongoing investigation into Russian interference in the US election. In the course of that campaign, Sessions crossed paths with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak exactly three times, including one actual face-to-face meeting and two occasions when he and Kislyak were in the same room as part of a Trump campaign event.
It's not clear if Sessions meant to pay penance to Trump after their relationship strained over the President's concerns that Sessions burned him by stepping aside from the Russian Federation probe - but he did a good job defending the White House anyway.
The nation's top law enforcement official explained his hands-off policy regarding the Russian Federation investigation.
Indian-American senator Kamala Harris launched a tough question-answer round on US Attorney General Jeff Sessions who testified at a Senate hearing on Tuesday.
"I have no knowledge of any such conversations by anyone connected to the Trump campaign", he said. And the suggestion that I participated in any collusion that I was aware of, any collusion with the Russian government to hurt this country which I have served with honor for 35 years, or to undermine the integrity of our democratic process is an appalling and detestable lie.
But in his testimony, Sessions confirmed under oath that a man he regarded as an experienced and unflappable prosecutor was unnerved by his private meeting with the president.
Sessions' clash with the Democratic senators was the latest chapter in a saga that has dogged Trump in his first five months as president and distracted from his domestic policy agenda including major healthcare and tax cut initiatives.
Martin Heinrich (D-NM), on the same grounds, Heinrich said, "You are obstructing this congressional investigation".
"I guess I'll just have to let his words speak for themselves", said Sessions.
Last week, Comey told the Senate committee that Trump had fired him to undermine the FBI's investigation of the Russian Federation matter.
Sessions said he has not received briefings on any Russian Federation hacking. Importantly, Sessions said Trump had not yet asserted executive privilege, and he himself had no power to claim it.
But the attorney general pushed back hard when asked what those problematic matters could be, retorting: "There are none".
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"Why don't you tell me?" This is a secret innuendo being leaked out there about me, and I don't appreciate it.
We don't know whether special counsel Mueller is investigating a potential obstruction of justice case based on Comey's assertion that Trump asked him at that April 14 meeting to drop the FBI's investigation of former national security adviser Michael Flynn.
"Well, I guess I'm concerned about your recollection, really, because it's not that long ago", Sessions said.
Following the hearing, a White House spokeswoman said Trump "has no intention" of dismissing Mueller.
Sessions shot back: "I am not stonewalling".
Sessions, who was one of Trumps earliest supporters, said he couldn't remember having a meeting with the Russian ambassador in March and refused to detail his conversations with the USA president.
Sessions also pushed back against Comey's suggestion he may have failed to take appropriate steps to protect the Federal Bureau of Investigation chief from political pressure.
WARNER: So you were his - his superior, and there were some fairly harsh things said about Director Comey.
Comey, who was sacked by Trump last month, said in congressional testimony last week that he gave a memo describing his conversations with Trump to a close friend and told him to share its contents with a reporter.
Tuesday's hearing was followed by predictably partisan reaction from Republicans and rival Democrats.
"I think there's fairly good history that the Department of Justice resists revealing internal deliberations and discussions, whether it be investigations or policy, as a matter of separation of the executive from the legislative branch", he said.
But not all of the members of the committee spent their time berating the attorney general or calling him a liar.
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