In the most fiery exchange so far during Attorney General William P. Barr’s Senate Judiciary testimony, Sen. Lindsey Graham interrupted questioning to accuse Sen. Mazie Hirono of “slandering” the Justice Department’s top official.

“You have slandered this man from top to to bottom,” Mr. Graham said. “You want more of this line of questioning, you are not going to get it.

The moment came while Ms. Hirono, Hawaii Democrat, was grilling Mr. Barr with questions about allegations that President Trump sought to thwart special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe.

But she also called Mr. Barr a liar and accused him of trying to conceal Mr. Trump’s alleged misdeeds.

“Being attorney general of the Untied States is a sacred trust,” she said. “You have betrayed that trust. America deserves better. You should resign.”

Ms. Hirono then started asking Mr. Barr if he thought the president’s firing of former FBI Director James Comey and allegedly dangling pardons for former campaign chairman Paul Manafort were above board.

The attorney general said the actions did not amount to a crime. He then said he was unsure about the pardon allegations, angering Ms. Hirono.

“Please give us some credit for —,” she said before interrupted by Mr. Graham, accusing her of slandering the nation’s top law enforcement officer.

Mr. Barr threw his hands up and said, “How did we get to this point?”

Later, the attorney general expanded on his response to Ms. Hirono.

“How did we get to the point now that the president was falsely accused of conspiring with Russia and the evidence now shows that is without a basis,” he said. “Two years of this administration has been dominated by allegations that been proven false. To listen to some of the rhetoric you would think the Mueller report found the opposite.”

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