REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
FBI Director James Comey testifies during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on "Going Dark: Encryption, Technology, and the Balance Between Public Safety and Privacy" in Washington July 8, 2015.
James Comey revealed he is on Twitter on Monday, confirming a report from March in which a journalist claimed to have discovered the FBI director's heavily-guarded account.Speaking at an event hosted by the Anti-Defamation League in Washington, Comey confirmed that he does indeed use Twitter, although he said he doesn't post anything on the social media site.
"Now some of you may have read recently that I am on Twitter," Comey said, according to a transcript from NBC's Bradd Jaffy. "I am not a tweeter. I am there to listen, to read especially what's being said about the FBI and its mission."
Comey then compared Twitter to a dive bar, commenting on the types of speech he sees on the site.
"Sometimes it's a wonderful place and sometimes it's a depressing place. Sometimes it feels like I'm all of a sudden immediately in every dive bar in America, where I can hear everybody screaming at the television set," Comey said.
"But it is free speech, you don't have to like it, you don't have to agree with it, but we will protect it, because it is the bedrock of this great country that we can believe and say what we want no matter how distasteful or disruptive. That is a vital right in this amazing country of ours."
Gizmodo published an article in March in which reporter Ashley Feinberg claimed she uncovered Comey's Twitter account using clues from one of Comey's comments. The heavily protected account had little activity to speak of, save a handful of "favorited" tweets, including some that pertained to the FBI and Comey himself.
This story was originally published by Gizmodo.
! Comey admits he's on Twitter, says sometimes Twitter is like being in a dive bar where you can hear everybody screaming at the TV
True. pic.twitter.com/wkyUWmAPGw
- Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) May 8, 2017