WASHINGTON — Corey Lewandowski was in the hot seat Tuesday, testifying before the House Judiciary Committee, with at least one member calling for the former campaign manager to be held in contempt for following White House instructions to limit the scope of his testimony.

From the start, Lewandowski stonewalled questions from House Democrats, citing directions from the White House not to provide any information outside of the Mueller report, even though the former campaign official was never actually an employee in the executive branch.

“The White House has directed that I not disclose the substance of any discussions with the President,” Lewandowski said repeatedly.

“This is the House Judiciary, not a House party,” said Rep Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) during a heated exchange.

Democrat committee members sparred with Lewandowski in an event billed as their first real impeachment hearing.

“You’re not going to stonewall me and my questioning,” said Rep. David Cicilline (D-Rhode Island), suggesting that the committee should hold Lewandowski in contempt of Congress.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-New York) said he would consider that option.

"I am very troubled that the White House Counsel sitting behind you are preventing you from answering these very basic questions that go to the heart of the president’s conduct we are investigating,” Nadler said, who was visibly frustrated throughout the hearing.

The combative campaign official confirmed that President Trump had used a White House meeting in 2017 to ask him to tell then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions to limit the scope of Robert Mueller’s probe into Russian interference in the 2016 elections.

“I didn’t think the President asked me to do anything illegal,” he said.

The Special Counsel’s investigators detailed two episodes in which the President asked Lewandowski to direct then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions to reverse his recusal and set new limits on the Mueller probe. Lewandowski never delivered that message.

“I went on vacation,” Lewandowski said in response to questions from members of the committee.

While Lewandowski is the first Mueller witness to be publicly interviewed since the conclusion of the investigation, Republicans like Rep. Greg Steube (R-Florida) said he didn’t learn anything new and called the hearing a waste of time.

“There is nothing the Judiciary Committee can do that Mueller didn’t do over the course of two years,” Steube explained in an interview with Spectrum News.

"I think this is the Democrats way of keeping this narrative going about impeachment. They know they don’t have the votes on the floor to get it,” he said.

Two former members of the President’s administration, Rick Dearborn and Rob Porter, were also subpoenaed to testify Tuesday, but they did not show up, complying with orders from the White House.