Washington (CNN) Attorney General Jeff Sessions tried to have his cake and eat it too when it came to his explanations during congressional testimony Tuesday for the firing of FBI Director James Comey.

On the one hand, Sessions didn't feel like he needed to stay in the Oval Office on February 14 when President Trump said he wanted to speak privately with Comey. And he didn't feel the need to do anything following a meeting the two men had in the days that followed in which Comey expressed his discomfort with these one-on-one conversations with the president.

Sessions' justification in both instances was that Comey was a total pro, that he knew his stuff and that Sessions trusted him to handle his business.

"I felt (Comey), so long in the department -- former deputy attorney general, as I recall -- knew those policies probably a good deal better than I did," said Sessions at one point. At another, Sessions said: "Our Department of Justice rules on proper communications between the department and the White House have been in place for years. Mr. Comey well knew them, I thought and assumed, correctly, that he complied with them."

On the other hand, Sessions told the Senate intelligence committee that he and deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein had discussed removing Comey as FBI director and agreed that it was time for a "fresh start" at the bureau before either man was confirmed to their current positions.

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