Attorney General Jeff Sessions declined to answer questions from reporters on President Trump’s disparaging tweets about him earlier in the day Wednesday as he left a restaurant in Washington, D.C., along with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and Solicitor General Noel Francisco.

Sessions was exiting Central Michel Richard when the reporters approached him. He had just concluded dining for almost two hours with Rosenstein and Francisco, according to tweets from Buzzfeed New’s Chris Geidner.

And, from the video playback, I see that, technically, AG Sessions did tell us, "Hello there!" https://t.co/pA3RZkAYek — Chris Geidner (@chrisgeidner) March 1, 2018



Beyond telling Geidner, along with PBS NewsHour's Ellis Kim, "Hello there," Sessions did not respond to their queries about how Trump condemned him for how the agency is digging deeper into allegations of possible surveillance abuses by the FBI and the Justice Department.

“Why is A.G. Jeff Sessions asking the Inspector General to investigate potentially massive FISA abuse,” Trump tweeted one day after Sessions announced the probe. “Will take forever, has no prosecutorial power and already late with reports on Comey etc. Isn’t the I.G. an Obama guy? Why not use Justice Department lawyers? DISGRACEFUL!”

Sessions issued a statement in response, saying he will "continue to discharge my duties with integrity and honor" as long as he is attorney general.

The dinner between the three men was reportedly per the request of Francisco, who wanted to discuss the department and administration’s agenda. A source close to Sessions said the outing was "in no way planned as pushback or an act of solidarity against the president," according to Axios.

A source close to Sessions, who has spoken with him, called me just now to tell me that this meeting was "in no way planned as pushback or an act of solidarity against the president." https://t.co/m1DGgHf6yg — Jonathan Swan (@jonathanvswan) March 1, 2018



In what was a rather turbulent Wednesday for Sessions, the Washington Post published a report that said special counsel Robert Mueller, who is leading the federal investigation into whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia in the 2016 election, is scrutinizing Trump's apparent attempt to oust Sessions last year after he recused himself from the Russia investigation.

Sessions recused himself before Trump fired FBI Director James Comey in May 2017. After that Rosenstein tapped Mueller to lead the probe.