"I'm following the policies of the Department of Justice", which he said included protecting the confidentiality of conversations with the president.
When Sessions declined to answer a similar question from Sen.
Sessions added that since his recusal, "I have no knowledge about this investigation" beyond media reports.
But in the rat-a-tat-tat of follow-up questions, Sessions slowly pried that door open again, by increasingly hedging his answers.
"Without in any way suggesting I had any conversations concerning pardons, totally apart from that", he told Feinstein, "there are privileges of communication within the Department of Justice that we share, all of us do".
"It's conceivable that that occurred", Sessions said.
A presidential spokeswoman responded with a qualified endorsement Tuesday: "While the president has the right to (fire Robert Mueller), he has no intention to do so", Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in response to a reporter's question.
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". So far, the White house has not asserted executive privilege, but Sessions said he wanted to preserve Trump's right to do so in the future.
Sanders confirmed that the President did interview Robert Mueller as a candidate for FBI director the day before he was named special counsel of the federal investigation into the Trump campaign and Russian Federation ties. Grassley said Comey's dismissal and Comey's testimony on Lynch should be looked at together, noting that Comey "took the opportunity in his testimony to clear his own name by denouncing as false the administration's claims that the FBI rank-and-file had lost confidence in Mr. Comey's leadership in the wake of the Clinton email investigation".
May orders public inquiry as 100 feared dead in Grenfell Tower fire
Opposition politicians accused the government Thursday of failing to act on key recommendations from reports into those fires . A blog post from Grenfell Action Group in November said "only a catastrophic event" would expose the concerns residents had.
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.
White House deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters aboard Air Force One as President Trump flew back from Milwaukee today that he watched parts of the hearing, "thought that Attorney General Sessions did a very good job and, in particular, was very strong on the point that there was no collusion between Russian Federation and the Trump campaign".
It could be because they didn't like seeing one of their former colleagues - Sessions was in the Senate 20 years - under the hot glare of the national spotlight.
Some Democrats grew impatient, warning Sessions was stonewalling on vital issues.
Independent Senator Angus King claimed that Russian election interference is the worst attack on the United States since the terrorist attacks on September 11. Jim Risch muttered, "doesn't seem like it".
Sessions said he learned from Comey that he felt concerned about being left alone with the president but that, since Comey did not relay details of the conversation, he had no way of knowing it was improper.
Mueller's office has also asked the National Security Agency (NSA) for documents related to its interactions with the administration as part of the probe into Russian meddling and possible collusion with Trump campaign officials, The New York Times reported.
And that boss, Jeff Sessions, also promised Tuesday not to get involved in any firing.
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