Analysis: In his Senate testimony on Russia, the attorney general’s default position was ‘can’t recall’ and vagueness was the order of the day

He started with a declaration well suited to old-school newspaper headlines, insisting that the claim he was involved in collusion with Russia was “an appalling and detestable lie”.

But Jeff Sessions’ testimony on Capitol Hill on Tuesday will be better remembered for a moment geared to 21st-century memes. Peppered with questions by the California Democrat Kamala Harris, Sessions, the former senator from Alabama with a troubled civil rights record, said: “I’m not able to be rushed this fast. It makes me nervous.”

Jeff Sessions calls accusations of Russia collusion an 'appalling lie' Read more

Was it because Harris is black, or a woman, or a former prosecutor, or all of the above? The Twittersphere will decide. But the incident illustrated how Sessions’ attempt at Trump-like bombast and bravado – “Donald in a Dixie cup”, as the New York Times columnist Frank Bruni called him last week – had crumbled under fire.

The attorney general managed to avoid inflicting significant damage on his boss but, having got his soundbite out, failed to answer the most important questions during a teeth-grindingly frustrating afternoon. “Can’t comment” or “can’t recall” were his default positions. It was a filibuster without charm.

The evasive Sessions said he could not reveal whether he had spoken with Trump about the Russia investigation. He refused to say whether Trump ordered him out of the room so that the president could tell the then FBI director, James Comey, to go easy on Michael Flynn. He declined to say whether there was any discussion of a potential pardon for Flynn.

Although Comey also kept some cards close to his chest before the Senate intelligence committee last week, there was a stark contrast in tone. It would have been unthinkable for Comey to say the questioning made him nervous, or to become agitated and tetchy as Sessions did under cross-examination by the Democratic senator Ron Wyden, of Oregon.

Wyden pressed Sessions on why he had recused himself from the investigation into Russian interference, asking about issues Comey had said he was unable to address. The attorney general snapped angrily: “Why don’t you tell me? There are none, Senator Wyden, there are none. I can tell you that for absolute certainty. This is a secret innuendo being leaked out there.”

Wyden said the answer “doesn’t pass the smell test”.

A couple of senators pushed Sessions hard on his basis for refusing to answer. First he claimed that “consistent with longstanding Department of Justice practice, I cannot and will not violate my duty to protect confidential communications with the president”. Then he said that though Trump had not invoked executive privilege, he may choose to do so in the future. “It would be premature for me to deny the president a full and intelligent choice about executive privilege,” he said. Few seemed satisfied with that.

On Russia, vagueness was the order of the day. Yes, Sessions was at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, but no, he did not have a formal meeting with the Russian ambassador, Sergey Kislyak. “If any brief interaction occurred in passing with the Russian ambassador during that reception, I do not remember it.”

Like Trump, Sessions had betrayed a deep lack of curiosity about Russia’s interference in the presidential election, admitting he had never received an official briefing on it. Asked if Russia interfered, he replied: “It appears so.” Later, he mourned that “it’s really a tragic strategic event” that the US and Russia did not get along better.

The only figure more divisive than Sessions was the Republican Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas, who made bizarre references to John le Carré books and James Bond and Jason Bourne films and argued the Russia allegations were the stuff of spy fiction. Sessions smiled: “Thank you for saying that, Senator Cotton. It’s just like Through the Looking Glass. I mean, what is this?” Washington had not seen such a display of sycophancy since Trump’s cabinet meeting, an entire 24 hours earlier.