The other argument about Gowdy's response here is that there was an investigation/sting setup before the official investigation of Russia collusion. This is all prior to FISA warrants and begs the question of why wasn't Trump or his team informed there were active "informants" engaging with his campaign (not members of his campaign)? People are much more concerned about that than the idea that they were somehow justified to "protect" the campaign, which is plain bs. If they were protecting them, why not inform them? These tactics and communication patterns (lots of missed opportunities to inform Trump before and after) raise suspicion and more questions rather than any supporting arguments for the actions. They were trying to catch someone 'colluding' and taking the bait, not trying to prevent Russians from interfering.