MAR 20, (DNA) – FBI director James Comey has confirmed for the first time that the FBI is investigating alleged Russian government interference in the 2016 election.

That includes investigating possible links between individuals in the Trump campaign and the Russian government and whether there was co-ordination between the Trump campaign and Russia, he said.

The FBI would also assess whether crimes were committed, he said.

Mr Trump has denied any collusion.

Russia has always denied attempting to influence the US presidential election.

The FBI director was speaking at a rare open hearing of the congressional intelligence committee, which is also investigating possible links between the Trump campaign and Russia.

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Mr Comey said the investigation was “very complex” and said he could not give the committee details that were not already publicly known.

He also said he could not give a timetable for its completion.

“We will follow the facts wherever they lead,” he said.

Also testifying before the committee is National Security Agency (NSA) chief Admiral Mike Rogers.

He said the NSA stood by an intelligence community report published in January, which said that Russian President Vladimir Putin had ordered a campaign to harm the campaign of Mr Trump’s rival, Hillary Clinton.

Both officials also denied unsubstantiated claims tweeted by Mr Trump earlier this month that former president Barack Obama had ordered a wiretap on Trump Tower.

Mr Comey said he had no information that supported the tweets and neither did the Department of Justice.

Devin Nunes (R), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, with its top Democrat Adam Schiff

Meanwhile, Admiral Rogers said the NSA had not asked Britain’s GCHQ intelligence agency to spy on Mr Trump – a claim that had been repeated by Mr Trump’s spokesman, Sean Spicer.

“That would be expressly against the construct of the five eyes agreement that’s been in place for decades,” he said.

GCHQ has described the claim as “ridiculous”.

However, Devin Nunes, the Republican chairman of the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee, said it was still possible that other surveillance activities had been used against Mr Trump and his associates.

What are the allegations?

In January, US intelligence agencies said Kremlin-backed hackers had broken into the email accounts of senior Democrats and released embarrassing ones in order to help Mr Trump defeat Hillary Clinton.

Since then, Mr Trump has faced allegations that his campaign team had links to Russian officials.

Mr Nunes said on Sunday that based on “everything I have up to this morning” there is “no evidence” that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia.

Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper has also said he saw no evidence of any collusion, up until the time he left his post in January.

However, Adam Schiff, the committee’s top Democrat, said the material he had seen offers circumstantial evidence that US citizens collaborated with Russians to influence the vote.

If the Trump campaign was found to have colluded with Russia it would be “the most shocking betrayal of democracy in history”, Mr Schifff told the committee.=DNA

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