Hours after unsubstantiated allegations surfaced about the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia, key Republicans on Capitol Hill seem more concerned with how the information wound up in the news media than with the allegations that Trump associates colluded with Moscow.

Some of Trump’s top allies on Capitol Hill are calling for an investigation into the leaks, raising the prospect of criminal prosecutions.


A House GOP source familiar with the matter said House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) has asked intelligence agency officials to look "into the whole series of alleged leaks of classified information around the administration's Russia report and to determine if any warrant referral to the Justice Department.”

Meanwhile, Senate Intelligence Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.) suggested during a hearing Tuesday that his panel was also looking into media leaks as part of its larger probe into Russia’s role in the presidential election.

“The leaking of highly classified material by individuals within our intelligence agencies causes me great concern, and I certainly believe it’s something we must investigate,” said Rep. Chris Collins (R-N.Y.), a prominent Trump ally on Capitol Hill.

Some Republicans appear to be taking cues from Trump, who has called for leak investigations and at a news conference Wednesday compared the behavior of U.S. intelligence agencies to Nazi Germany.

“I think it was disgraceful — disgraceful that the intelligence agencies allowed any information that turned out to be so false and fake out,” the president-elect said. “That’s something that Nazi Germany would have done and did do.”

In a Wednesday evening statement, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said he spoke to Trump by phone: "I expressed my profound dismay at the leaks."

"We both agreed that they are extremely corrosive and damaging to our national security," his statement read, adding that the leaked document was not a product of the intelligence community and "I do not believe the leaks came from within the IC."

Nunes, during a brief Wednesday interview, complained about leaks and downplayed a bombshell 35-page "dossier" — first published by BuzzFeed News on Tuesday night — listing allegations that Russia has gathered damaging information on Trump and colluded with his campaign.

"We don't know where they’re coming from," Nunes said. "But clearly the leaks are coming."

Rep. Lou Barletta (R-Pa.), one of the first lawmakers to endorse Trump last year, said there “absolutely” should be an investigation into the source of the leaks, which he said have been dripping “nonstop since Donald Trump was elected."

"It’s a big concern if it came from intelligence and the government: It’s a crime,” Barletta said. "It’s worrisome that the news media seems to be getting stories possibly from people who’d be breaking the law, violating the law, by giving them” this information.

This is not the first time members of Congress have called for investigations into what they view as politically motivated leaks by the Obama administration. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has accused the administration in the past of selective leaks about military operations to bolster the president’s national security credentials.

The Obama administration has been more aggressive in prosecuting government leakers than any previous administration, according to PolitiFact, though critics have argued this has applied only to leaks that make the administration look bad.

Should Trump and his supporters act on their threat, the nation could see leak investigations that go beyond even Obama's.

Several Democrats on Wednesday blasted the Republican focus on leaks, accusing them of changing the subject from embarrassing and potentially compromising acts by Trump — if they were proven true, that is.

“This seems to be the fixation of the Trump campaign — on the leaks, rather than on the fact of Russian hacking, the interference on his behalf and what it means for the country,” said Rep. Adam Schiff of California, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. “Leaks are always a serious issue, but let's not let the leak of information obscure the fact that a foreign adversarial power has hacked into our democratic institutions, and in the opinion of our intelligence community they plan to do it again.”

For Republican defense hawks, the issue is a balancing act.

Several have called for leak investigations, while also trying to make clear they want Russia punished for its election meddling.

One such Republican, Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, brought up the issue during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Tuesday, referring to possible classified information that appeared in The Washington Post.

The senator asked FBI Director James Comey, ”Have you received a crimes report from anyone in the intelligence community about these leaks?” Cotton then suggested news media leaks should be part of the Senate Intelligence panel’s larger ongoing investigation into Russia’s election meddling.

“The chair and the vice chair," said Burr, the committee chairman, "are working on that right now."

Martin Matishak and Elana Schor contributed to this report.