WASHINGTON — Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker told Congress on Friday that he had “not interfered in any way with the special counsel’s investigation’’ into Russia’s 2016 election-manipulation operation since President Trump installed him atop the Justice Department.

During an often contentious oversight hearing before the House Judiciary Committee, Whitaker also testified that he had provided no inside information about that inquiry, or related ones in the Southern District of New York, to Trump or his lawyers and White House aides.

“I do not believe that I have briefed third-party individuals outside of the Department of Justice,’’ Whitaker said. “I have received the briefings myself, and I’m usually the endpoint of that information.’’

While Whitaker provided those bottom-line claims up front, he refused to discuss many other things — like his conversations with Trump, or why he recently said the special counsel inquiry would soon wrap up — as questions about the Russia investigation dominated the hearing. The committee chairman, Representative Jerrold Nadler, Democrat of New York, told Whitaker that he would seek to force him to submit to further questioning in a later deposition.

After taking control of the House in the midterm elections, Democrats made it an early priority to get Whitaker in front of the oversight committee before his expected replacement by William Barr, whom the Senate is likely to confirm next week as attorney general. Whitaker’s voluntary appearance followed a last-minute fight with Democrats on Thursday over whether they would commit to not serving him with a subpoena before or on Friday — a precursor to potentially citing him for contempt of Congress.

The hearing also touched on a series of other topics. Among them, Whitaker denied that the Justice Department had recently decided to issue a legal opinion restricting online gambling — reversing an interpretation the department had issued in 2011 — as a gift to casino owners like Sheldon Adelson, the casino magnate and a major Republican donor. Whitaker said he had no involvement in the opinion, but rejected as “absolutely wrong’’ the premise that the process was corrupt.

But the hearing focused mainly on the Russia investigation. It quickly became contentious, as Nadler used his opening statement to blast Whitaker for refusing to recuse himself from overseeing the Russia investigation despite the recommendation of Justice Department ethics officials that he step aside because of his past public comments criticizing it.

The panel’s ranking Republican, Representative Doug Collins of Georgia, in turn accused Nadler of engaging in “character assassination’’ and “political theater’’ and of wasting time by obtaining authority to subpoena Whitaker. Collins then forced an unsuccessful roll-call vote on whether to immediately adjourn the hearing.

And when Nadler began questioning Whitaker, the acting attorney general refused to provide details about when and how many times he had been briefed about the Russia investigation, which is led by Special Counsel Robert Mueller. Then, when Nadler asked Whitaker if he had ever been asked to approve any request for action to be taken by Mueller, Whitaker audaciously replied: “Mr. Chairman, I see that your five minutes is up.’’

The room broke into laughter as Nadler looked up in apparent disbelief at the breach of decorum, but then grinned himself and let it slide, noting that he did not enforce the five-minute rule during Whitaker’s opening statement. Nadler then directed Whitaker to “answer the question, please.’’

Whitaker’s retorts to lawmakers soon irked Democrats. “Mr. Attorney General, we are not joking here,’’ said Representative Sheila Jackson Lee, Democrat of Texas, during one exchange. “And your humor is not acceptable.’’

But as a matter of substance, the takeaway was that Whitaker testified under oath that he had never used his position to provide inside information about the Russia inquiry to Trump or his proxies, nor had he taken any step to impede Mueller’s work.

“I want to be very specific about this, Mr. Chairman, because I think it will allay a lot of fears that have existed among this committee, among the legislative branch, largely, and maybe amongst some American people,’’ Whitaker said. “We have followed the special counsel’s regulations to a T. There’s been no event, no decision that has required me to take any action, and I’ve not interfered in any way with the special counsel’s investigation.’’

Whitaker pointedly declined at multiple points, though, to defend Mueller and his investigation from accusations by Trump or others that he was conducting a “witch hunt.’’