The appearance before the Senate intelligence committee comes one week after former FBI Director Comey cryptically told lawmakers the bureau had expected Sessions to recuse himself weeks before he did from an investigation into contacts between Trump campaign associates and Russian Federation during the 2016 election. "Totally illegal? Very 'cowardly!'" Trump tweeted on Sunday. While the Senate Intelligence Committee has received most of the publicity of late on the Russian Federation probe, the House Intelligence Committee has also been making noise, sending out subpoenas to some, and letters asking for cooperation to others.

A day after Attorney General Jeff Sessions said he would testify this week before the Senate Intelligence Committee, Democratic senators on Sunday urged the panel to question him about the Trump campaign's ties to Russian Federation in a public hearing, rather than behind closed doors.

The president denied trying to interfere with the investigation and said he would be willing to testify under oath about his interactions with Comey. Sessions just kind of shrugged and said, what am I going to do about that?

The president had said Comey's testimony vindicates his assertion that Trump himself was not personally under the investigation.

"James Comey better hope that there are no "tapes" of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!"

Yesterday, Schumer also said he would like to clear up the matter of whether Trump does indeed have tapes of his conversations with Comey, as the president has suggested.

Comey said that because his writings were unclassified, he felt he could share them with the media.

Sessions faces questions about his contacts with Russia's ambassador to the USA during the presidential campaign.

His hunch was apparently correct, as the very next day former FBI director Bob Mueller was appointed to be a special counsel overseeing the investigation.

Comey said he responded that what he could offer was "honesty".

The agency's response comes as Trump has been coy about whether any tapes exist of his private conversations with former FBI Director James Comey.

Trump's getting-back-to-work photo op kicked off a week in which he's under siege due to the Russian Federation investigation. "He believes it is important for the American people to hear the truth directly from him and looks forward to answering the committee's questions tomorrow", said the Justice Department's Sarah Isgur Flores, in a statement relayed by NPR's Carrie Johnson.

That remark came after revelations emerged that Sessions had met with Russia's ambassador to the USA last year, despite testifying under oath during a confirmation hearing that he "did not have communications with the Russians".

Two sources familiar with what Comey said in the closed door gatherings told NBC News about the confirmation.

Sessions said his decision to accept the intelligence committee's invitation to appear was due in part to Comey's testimony.