Attorney General Jeff Sessions appeared before the Senate Intelligence Committee in an exchange the was predictably politicized and at times heated. Sessions opened by saying, “The suggestion that I participated in any collusion … is an appalling and detestable lie.” Like other administration officials before him, Sessions stopped short of describing his conversations with Donald Trump, and refused to say whether he spoke to President Trump about Comey’s handling of Russia investigation. “I am not able to discuss with you or confirm or deny the nature of private conversations that I may have had with the president on this subject or others.”

+ Throughout Monday evening, there was much debate over whether or not Trump was actually considering the idea of firing Special Counsel Robert Mueller. During his testimony on Tuesday, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said only he has the power to fire special counsel on Russia. My take: The point is not to actually fire Mueller, but to float the idea in order to make him, in our minds, that guy who almost got fired.

+ And your regular reminder of what the Russian hacking story is really about: Russian hacking. From Bloomberg: Russian Cyber Hacks on U.S. Electoral System Far Wider Than Previously Known. “In all, the Russian hackers hit systems in a total of 39 states.”