WASHINGTON — The former acting attorney general Matthew G. Whitaker “did not deny” in a private meeting with House lawmakers on Wednesday that he had spoken to President Trump about an investigation in New York that had ensnared the president and his business, the Democratic chairman of the House Judiciary Committee said.

Speaking after the meeting, the chairman, Representative Jerrold Nadler of New York, presented Mr. Whitaker’s comments as being at odds with his public testimony last month before the Judiciary Committee. In that hearing, Mr. Whitaker generally would not say if he had communicated with the president about the case, which led to charges against Michael D. Cohen, Mr. Trump’s former personal lawyer and fixer.

Mr. Whitaker at the time denied a CNN report that Mr. Trump had yelled at him about the case after Mr. Cohen pleaded guilty to federal campaign finance charges that implicated Mr. Trump. A report by The New York Times after the February hearing recounted another call between the two men about the case in which Mr. Trump asked about the possibility of putting the United States attorney whom the president had appointed in charge of it.

“Unlike in the hearing room, Mr. Whitaker did not deny that the president called him to discuss the Michael Cohen case and personnel decisions in the Southern District” of New York, Mr. Nadler told reporters.