FBI Director James Comey on Monday sat through a nearly six-hour hearing in which Republicans pressed him to condemn leaks that have damaged the Trump administration and Democrats encouraged him to explore President Trump’s ties to Russia.
The split showed how neither party is willing to give up ground in the fight over Russia, which has become a focus since late last year, when the U.S. intelligence community said Russia tried to meddle in the U.S. election.
Since then, Trump tried to turn the tables by saying some of the press leaks revealing that story are an even bigger problem. But Comey gave Trump a new problem to grapple with, revealing that the FBI does have an open and active investigation into any coordination between the Trump campaign and agents of the Russian government.
Republicans clearly believe they can gain political traction trying to determine who inside one of the nation’s top intelligence agencies leaked a classified phone call that led to the resignation of White House national security adviser Mike Flynn.
Democrats on the committee, meanwhile, tried to paint a nexus of connections between Trump campaign surrogates and friends and numerous members of the Russian government.
Much of the early questioning centered on the leak of the phone call captured by one of the intelligence agencies in December of last year where Flynn, then a member of the Trump team, spoke with Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak. A transcript of the phone call was later leaked to the press, which helped force Flynn’s resignation as national security adviser.
Comey did not confirm or deny whether an active investigation was underway to determine who created the Flynn leak.
An exchange between Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., and Comey illustrated how the GOP members of the committee might have more to sink their teeth into as the investigation moves forward because they feel they know for certain a crime was committed within the intelligence agencies when the Flynn conversation was leaked.
“In February of this year, the Washington Post reported that ‘nine current and former officials who were in senior positions at multiple agencies, at the time of the (Flynn) call spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters,'” Gowdy began. He also cited a February report from the New York Times that cited unnamed officials who had seen a transcript of the Flynn call.
“I thought it was against the law to disseminate classified information. Is it?” Gowdy asked.
“Oh yes,” Comey answered. “It’s a serious crime.”
Later in the hearing, Gowdy pressed Comey again, “How would you begin your investigation assuming, for the sake of argument, that a U.S. citizen’s name appeared in the Washington Post and New York Times unlawfully, where would you begin that investigation?”
“You would start by figuring out, who are the suspects, who touched the information that you’ve concluded ended up unlawfully in the newspaper, and start with that universe. And then use investigative tools and techniques to see if you can eliminate people or include people as more serious suspects,” Comey answered.
Questions about President Trump’s tweets in which he claimed he was “wiretapped” by President Obama were surprisingly sparse, outside of the opening remarks by the ranking Democrat on the committee, Adam Schiff.
