Ohio Republican Mike Turner asks Comey about journalists who publish classified information. 

The FBI director says: "Lying to reporters is not illegal."

The president has congratulated his son, Eric, and his wife, Lara, on their baby news. 

Twitter accuses him of trying to deflect from the FBI director's confirmation of the Russia investigation.

Comey says there are things he can't comment on today because the questions concern US citizens or issues that may be under investigation.

He says he is trying to be "studiously vague" with his responses, in order not to betray any active investigations.

Congressman Michael Turner of Ohio wanted to know if there was direct evidence that Michael Flynn had promised to rescind or reduce sanctions against the Russian governement. 

Trump tweets the below. 

However, the FBI director was very clear in his remarks that the whole issue of alleged Russian involvement in the US election is still under investigation.

Congresswoman Jackie Speier's likening of Putin to a tarantula on a web has drawn a swift rebuttal from Twitter.

Apparently tarantulas do not weave webs. 

Paging David Attenborough...

Read more about the truth about tarantulas at BBC Earth., external

FBI Director Comey says the Russians were "very noisy" and "unusually loud" in their alleged hacking of US Democratic party computers.

"It was almost as if they didn't care if we found out," says Comey.

He says their plan might have been "freaking people out" in the US once Americans discovered alleged Russian meddling in the US election.

"They'll be back in 2020, they may be back in 2018," he says.

Comey adds that the Russians probably judged their hacking to be a success because they "introduced chaos and division and discord and sowed doubt about this amazing country of ours".

Congresswoman Jackie Speier has used a vivid analogy to describe the Russians and those that help them.

The California Democrat says they are like a "spiderweb with a tarantula in the middle", and the tarantula is Vladimir Putin, she tells Comey.

She says the Putin-Tarantula is influencing Trump associates like Paul Manafort, Roger Stone and Carter Page, and even Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

Speier says the alleged Russian hacking of the US Democratic party computer servers was "an act of war - an act of hybrid warfare".

Barbara Plett Usher
BBC News, Washington

FBI Director James Comey confirmed that the FBI was investigating any possible co-ordination between the Trump campaign and Russia’s alleged efforts to influence the election outcome. 

US intelligence chiefs have previously said only that they believed Russia aimed to favour Donald Trump’s candidacy. 

Comey also said neither the FBI nor the Department of Justice had evidence to support Trump’s claims that his predecessor Barack Obama wiretapped his phones ahead of the election. 

And the Director of the National Security Agency Mike Rogers strongly denied allegations repeated by the Trump administration that he’d asked GCHQ to spy on Mr Trump.

Rogers said that would violate both US law and international spy agreements.

The US president's main takeaway, sent from his official @POTUS account and not his personal account that he usually tweets from...

We can expect to hear more about this point at the White House daily press briefing, which takes place about an hour from now.  

A few Twitter users have noted the yawning divide on the House Intelligence Committee.

Many Republicans would rather discuss the unknown source of the leaked classified information.

The Democrats would rather focus on the bombshell information divulged in the leaks.

The Trump administration has insisted "nothing has changed" after revelations the FBI is investigating his campaign's links to Russia. 

"There is NO EVIDENCE of Trump-Russia collusion and there is NO EVIDENCE of a Trump-Russia scandal," a senior administration official said in a written statement.

New York Republican Peter King says of journalists’ reporting on Trump and his associates: "I've never seen such a sustained period of leaks." 

Comey agrees leaks are a problem and have been "unusually active" of late.

"A lot of it is just dead wrong," the FBI director says of a lot of recent reporting based on leaks.

Congresswoman Terri Sewell of Alabama is asking a series of questions, and getting nowhere with the FBI director.

"I can't answer that," Comey says repeatedly.

She says she wants the public to understand the "scope and breadth" of the activities that led to Michael Flynn's dismissal as Trump's national security adviser.

She believes Flynn should be under a criminal investigation, due to his "lying and failure to disclose really important information" regarding his communications with the Russian government.

Would [the Russians] like to see more Brexits, and other departures from Europe?" a Democratic congressman asks, in a line of questioning related to Russia's political interests.

"Would they like to see more Brexits?" Congressman Schiff simplifies his question.

"Yes," replies the FBI director.

Anthony Zurcher
BBC North America reporter

What FBI Director James Comey didn’t say during intelligence hearings today on possible Russian meddling in the 2016 US election was as important as what he did say. While he confirmed there is an ongoing investigation that started last July, he couldn’t predict when it might end. He also repeatedly said he could not comment on specific members of the Trump team who may be the topic of investigation.

Former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, who had ties to pro-Russian Ukrainian politicians? No comment. Long-time Trump advisor Roger Stone, who reportedly had communications with individuals who hacked the Democratic National Committee emails? No comment. Former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, who was forced to resign after leaked evidence surfaced that he had communicated with a Russian ambassador about US sanctions? No comment.

"I don’t want to answer any questions about a US person," said Comey.

All of this is evidence that the investigation isn’t just ongoing, it’s substantive and far-reaching.

While Democrats will probably be encouraged by this, it was telling that Republicans pursued the White House line that the topic of greatest concern were the intelligence leaks that put this story in the headlines.

While some Republicans have expressed concern about the allegations of Russian election meddling, that uneasiness was not on display on Monday. If Trump can consolidate his party’s support, it will go a long way toward insulating the president against any fallout from this investigation.

The Russians had a "clear preference for a President Trump" the FBI has said in the past, leading one Texas congressman to ask why.

"I think that was a fairly easy judgement for the [intelligence] community," Comey says.

"Putin hated Secretary Hillary so much, that the flip-side of that coin was he had a clear preference for the person running against the person he hated so much", the FBI director says.

He adds that the enemy-of-my-enemy-is-my-friend argument makes sense "logically".

Eric Holder, who served as the top US law enforcement officer under Obama for nearly six years, has been watching today's congressional proceedings.

Here's his sum-up:

Democrats are wondering if they'll get an apology from the president, now the nation's spy chiefs have said there is no evidence of Obama hacking Trump Tower's phones.