That assessment differs from U.S. intelligence agencies, which released a report just in January declaring that “Putin and the Russian government aspired to help President-elect Trump’s election chances when possible by discrediting Secretary Clinton and publicly contrasting her unfavorably to him.”

The report also said Moscow did so in part because it “developed a clear preference for President-elect Trump.”

Sessions’ comments about Russian meddling in the election came during an interview with Tucker Carlson — the first he has given since he said earlier Thursday he would recuse himself from any campaign-related probes.

For the most part, Sessions repeated the same points he had made during a press conference just hours earlier on his recusal. He confirmed he had met twice with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak — even though he said at his confirmation hearing, “I have been called a surrogate at a time or two in that campaign, and I did not have communications with the Russians.” He said that answer was because of the particular question he was responding to from Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., who referenced a freshly posted CNN story and asked what Sessions would do if he learned of any evidence that anyone affiliated with the Trump campaign had communicated with the Russian government in the course of the 2016 campaign.

“I think it was an honest answer, Tucker, I thought I was responding exactly to that question,” Sessions said.

Carlson soon pressed the attorney general broadly on the topic of Russia at the campaign.

“Did the campaign believe that the Russian government, the Putin government, favored Trump over Clinton in this race?” Carlson asked.

“I have never been told that,” Sessions responded.

“Do you think they did?” Carlson said.

“I don’t have any idea, Tucker, you’d have to ask them,” Sessions said.

Trump himself acknowledged for the first time in January that he believed Russian operatives hacked the Democratic Party during the election, though even then, he disputed reports that the Russians acted to help him win. At his confirmation hearing in January, Sessions acknowledged he was not well informed about Russia’s cyber provocations.

When Sen. Lindsey Graham pointed out that the FBI had concluded Russia was behind the intrusion, Sessions observed, “at least that’s what’s been reported.” Later, he allowed, “I have no reason to doubt that.”

The report that concluded Russia ultimately sought to help Trump win the presidency said Russia carried out an unprecedented cyber campaign, penetrating U.S. computer systems and relaying emails to WikiLeaks. It said Putin might have been motivated in part by dislike for Clinton, a former senator and secretary of state who he felt was responsible for inciting protests against his government. It was presented to Trump by officials including Director of National Intelligence James Clapper Jr., CIA Director John Brennan and FBI Director James Comey.

The report did not address whether the Russian efforts affected the outcome of the election. Sessions also said that was unclear to him.

“People are bringing forth evidence, and there are congressional committees that are investigating that, and I believe the truth will come out. It usually does,” he said.