On Monday, FBI director James Comey and director of the National Security Agency Michael Rogers were "dragged" before the House Intelligence Committee for several hours where they were asked about their investigation on Donald Trump's connection to Russia. While there were moments when Republicans asked probing questions pertaining to their updates on that investigation, it was the Democrats who spent more time on what the original purpose of the hearing was.
When Republicans asked their questions, they mostly grilled both intelligence officials over Leaks that initially revealed more details on the Trump administration's Russian connection over the past several months.
The Republican's effort to target leaks in their questioning was in league with what the White House sees as the priority, rather than the suggestion that they have some connection with the Russian government. As a report by the New York Times titled: "What investigation? G.O.P. responds to F.B.I. inquiry by changing subject," it highlights the times during the five and a half hour hearing when Republicans followed Democrats' line of questioning about the investigation into Russia, with questions that hammered away at the Comey and Rogers, saying that they needed to do more to prevent the leaking of classified information.
Trey Gowdy takes the lead
The New York Times article quotes Republican Representative for South Carolina, Trey Gowdy, insinuating that certain people under the Obama administration were the source of those leaks. But he also weighed on criminalizing the leaking of information: "One thing you and I agree on is the felonious dissemination of classified material most definitely is a crime." The article also reminds readers of when Trey Gowdy was heading an investigation against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton over Benghazi where he too leaked information to reporters. There's no doubt that his leaks were part of a process designed to get as much leverage against Clinton as possible.
The Times also describes how united Republicans were to focus on leaks during the hearing.
Prior to the hearing with James Comey and Michael Rogers, Blasting News reported on various clues since President Trump's former National Security Advisor General Michael Flynn resigned when Republicans have shown that they're not interested in pursuing an investigation over the White House's connections to Russia. One clue into this was in an interview with Senator Risch on PBS Newshour, where he provided some insight into the limits of their investigation.
White House remains focused on leaks
The hearing took place late in the morning prior to the White House press briefing where Press Secretary Sean Spicer also positioned himself behind the focus Republicans had on leaks during the hearing.
In order to try to not only distract Americans from the investigation on Russia, and convince them that the leaks were the focus; Spicer said that the media were refusing to cover the "real" story from the hearing which was the need to put a stop to the leaks. It's also noted that Spicer jumped to a new effort by the White House to blame Hillary Clinton and Democrats of their limited associations with Russian officials, coming from an image that President Trump tweeted out a week prior showing Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer standing next to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
It's also noted that Trump's position on leaks has also changed, in relation to Wikileaks -- which released a trove of documents from the CIA in the past month, Donald Trump has been supportive of Wikileaks -- which Blasting News reported on -- when the media outlet were involved with the release of emails that were stolen from the Democratic National Committee mentioned earlier.
Overall, there's nothing to show that the Trump White House will stop focusing on leaks or that Republicans will stop spinning the narrative, even under the pressure of a possible investigation by the FBI.