(CN) - Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Tuesday angrily denied having had any undisclosed meeting with the Russian ambassador or conversations with any Russian officials about the 2016 elections, calling such suggestions "appalling and detestable" lies.
Although he tried to maintain an almost folksy demeanor -- early on referring to the members of the Senate intelligence committee as "colleagues" before sheepishly correcting himself and saying "well, not anymore" -- Sessions grew tense and raised his voice when pressed by committee Democrats on a number of issues.
At one point, he vowed to defend his honor against any and all "scurrilous and false allegations" that he participated in or knew about any collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign.
Sessions also contradicted testimony offered by former FBI Director James Comey before the same panel last week; defended his role in Comey's firing last month by President Donald Trump; and got into an extended, hearing-long debate with Democrats over his refusal to discuss private conversations with the president in order to preserve Trump's right to claim executive privilege over their content at some future, unspecified date.
Sessions recused himself in March from a federal investigation into contacts between Russia and the Trump presidential campaign after acknowledging that he had met twice last year with the Russian ambassador to the United States.
But by then he was already under an ethical cloud because he had told lawmakers at his January confirmation hearing that he had not met with Russians during the campaign.
He has been dogged by questions about possible additional encounters with the ambassador, Sergey Kislyak ever since.
"Many have suggested that my recusal was because I felt I was a subject of the investigation myself and done something wrong, but this is the reason I recused myself," Sessions said.
According to the attorney general, federal regulations preclude employers from participating in a criminal investigation or prosecution if he has a personal or political relationship with any person involved in … an investigation.
That includes a relationship with an elected official or candidate.
"I felt I was required to under the Department of Justice. And as a leader of the DOJ, I should comply with the rules obviously," Sessions said.
But the subject of his recusal remains a sensitive issue for the attorney general. Later, under Democratic scrutiny, his temperature rising, he testily said, "I recused myself from any investigation into campaign for president but I did not recuse myself from defending my honor against scurrilous and false allegations."
Democrats are particularly interested in determining whether the men met at an April 2016 foreign policy event at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington.
The Justice Department has said that while Sessions was there, for a speech by candidate Trump, there were no meetings or private encounters.
Sessions sought to quickly put that question to rest saying that he had no formal meeting with Kislyak at the event, and that if he had a brief, informal encounter in passing, he had no recollection of it.
Former FBI Director James Comey raised additional questions at a hearing on Thursday, saying that the FBI expected Sessions to recuse himself weeks before he actually did. But Comey declined to elaborate.