Google's CEO Eric Schmidt came before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday to testify about Google and how fairly it treats other companies in its search results.

Schmidt's inquisitors, including Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken of Minnesota, bored in on accusations that the world's dominant Internet search engine unfairly favors its own products and advertisers in its rankings and in doing so misleads consumers who think they are getting unbiased results.

Franken, a Democrat, expressed frustration when Schmidt refused to say under oath that Google's supposedly merit-based rankings never give preferential placement to Google's products and services.

Schmidt said he thought that was the case.

"That seemed like a fuzzy answer," Franken said. "If you don't know, who does?"

The exchange in a packed hearing room was one of several tart give-and-takes between members of the Senate Judiciary Committee and one of the world's wealthiest, most powerful executives.

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