The top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee -- Representative Adam Schiff (D-CA) -- spoke with reporters Thursday after Attorney General Jeff Sessions' closed door appearance before the committee:
"I asked the attorney general whether he was ever instructed by the president to take any action that he believed would hinder the Russia investigation and he declined to answer the question," Rep. Adam Schiff told reporters after the closed-door meeting concluded.
"If the president did not instruct him to take any action that he believed would hinder the Russia investigation, he should say so. If the president did instruct him to hinder the investigation in any way, in my view, that would be a potentially criminal act and certainly not covered by any privilege," the California lawmaker continued.
A Sessions' spokeswoman pointed out the AG has said before he will not discuss his communications with the President and that "he has denied in previous testimonies being instructed by Trump to do anything illegal or improper."
However, Rep. Mike Quigley (D-IL), appearing on MSNBC Thursday evening, reiterated the concern that Sessions was being less than forthcoming. Rep. Quigley shared that Sessions, like he did in open session before the House Judiciary Committee mid-November, said he did not recall or did not remember a considerable number of times and gave very few definitive answers.
Top Intel Dem: Sessions refused to say whether Trump asked him to hinder Russia probe (The Hill)