Attorney General Jeff Sessions testified before the House Judiciary Committee Tuesday, saying he never knowingly lied to Congress during the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
Democrats pressed Sessions during the more than five-hour hearing to reconcile statements he made about meeting or speaking to lower-level Trump campaign staffers who had dealings with Russia and other foreign countries.
Sessions suggested that lack of sleep and a campaign for president that was “chaos” at times were likely part of the reason he did not have a clear memory of some events. He became animated and raised his voice as he declared that he never knowingly lied during several Senate hearings.
“In all of my testimony, I can only do my best to answer all of your questions as I understand them and to the best of my memory,” Sessions told the committee. “But I will not accept, and reject, accusations that I have ever lied. That is a lie.”
Sessions said he had no recollection of a conversation with campaign aide Carter Page, but remembered briefly speaking to George Papadopoulos after he recently saw media accounts of a meeting Papadopoulos attended.
Below are live updates of Tuesday’s hearing.
Live updates:
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