14 DAY TRIAL // There are few things we know about FBI Director James Comey's social media life, since he's been quite mum about it all in an effort to preserve his privacy. But that shroud of privacy may have gone up in flames now that he apparently gave out a little too much about his Internet persona.
Gizmodo reporter Ashley Feinberg went on a little sleuthing mission to discover Comey's Instagram and Twitter accounts following one of his statements.
"I care deeply about privacy, treasure it. I have an Instagram account with nine followers. Nobody is getting in. They're all immediate relatives and one daughter's serious boyfriend. I let them in because they're serious enough. I don't want anybody looking at my photos. I treasure my privacy and security on the Internet. My job is public safety," Comey said during an interview. Since he previously admitted to being on Twitter, it was only natural that they'd somehow be connected.
Let the sleuthing begin
The sleuth went on to look for that Instagram account and go from there. After a little bit of effort, she found Brien Comey, the FBI's director's son, who's a basketball star. After digging around for a while, she tried out a search on Twitter for "Brien Comey" without "James" so all references to his father would be left out.
This eventually led to a tweet from the college basketball team Brien is on, where one account is mentioned - @twittafuzz. While it is now pretty much dead, if you search through the mentions, there's enough evidence to sustain the idea that it was owned by Brien Comey especially since someone congratulates him on his dad's ascension as chief of the FBI. Looking through the comments left on a picture featuring Comey's son led to his Instagram account.
While locked and secure, sending a follow request still reveals a bit about the account. As soon as that request was sent, suggested accounts popped up beneath - Patrice Comey was among them - which is the FBI director's wife. Other suggested accounts lacking real names and profile photos varied in popularity, but only one had those "nine followers" Comey claimed to have - reinholdniebuhr.
While that's not evidence enough that this is the actual account of Comey, it would be too much of a coincidence since he has a double major in religion and chemistry and wrote a thesis on theologian Reinhold Niebuhr at one point.
So there it was - Comey's Instagram account. But what about the Twitter account?
On to Twitter
Well, searching Twitter for that name resulted in just a few accounts. One of them, @projectexile7 has an egg for a profile pic although it joined the platform in February 2014. One person is following the account - Benjamin Wittes of Lawfare, one of Comey's personal friends.
The account follows various news channels and has liked quite a few articles, most of which have some relation to the FBI. Eight of them refer directly to James Comey himself, one refers an active FBI investigation, four refer the Trump administration, and so on.
Of course, this is not 100% proof that it's Comey's account, but it could very well be given all the evidence that led thus far. The FBI refused to comment, as per usual.
The account has gained thousands of followers, and some have gone as far as to dig a little deeper into the matter, revealing the star-filled email address used - which matches the pseudonym he uses on Instagram and the name for the Twitter account.