James Comey may have an account on Twitter, but, as the FBI director made perfectly clear on Monday, he is certainly not a filthy “tweeter”.
“Now some of you may have read recently that I am on Twitter,” said Comey at an Anti-Defamation League event in Washington today. “I am not a tweeter.”
Comey explained that he was on the site “to listen, to read what’s especially being said about the FBI and its mission”, likening the experience to being in “every dive bar in America, where I can hear everybody screaming at the television set”.
While the social media habits of America’s top G-Man are certainly interesting, Comey seemed to share his experience with Twitter to make a point about something far more serious: The difference between protected speech and warning signs presaging real-world violence.
“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,” he continued. “But there are others more worrisome to everyone in this room. Those are the ones who stop talking about who they hate and what they hate so much and start acting on that hate.”
That all sounds pretty noble, which makes it the perfect cover for his real mission on the site: To like tweets about himself.