'Reinhold Niebuhr' Twitter account is actually written by James Comey, friend confirms
James Comey has been tweeting under the name “Reinhold Niebuhr,” a theologian the fired FBI director wrote about in his college thesis.
Gizmodo wrote a story in March asserting that “Reinhold Niebuhr” was “almost certainly” Comey. Now there is confirmation that Comey is the tweeter, report Gizmodo, NPR, the New York Times and the Des Moines Register.
Lawfare blogger Benjamin Wittes—a personal friend of Comey’s—has tweeted that the “Reinhold Niebuhr” account using the handle @FormerBu “is in fact, James Comey himself.” According to the Times, “Bu” is FBI lingo for “Bureau.”
Wittes tweeted the confirmation after “Reinhold Niebuhr” posted a photo of a person resembling Comey standing on a road wearing sunglasses and with his arms crossed and looking off in the distance.
Before the Gizmodo story, Comey had tweeted under the handle “@projectexile7,” which was a federal program he helped initiate. The account never tweeted, though it followed others and liked their tweets. Wittes was the only follower of @projectexile7.
Some see a message about future plans in Comey’s tweets. One commenter noted that Comey was “wearing running shoes in the home of the caucuses.”
The Register notes that Comey’s wife is from Iowa, and her father celebrated his 90th birthday this weekend.
President Donald Trump fired Comey on May 9.
Goodbye Iowa. On the road home. Gotta get back to writing. Will try to tweet in useful ways. pic.twitter.com/DCbu3Yvqt3
— Reinhold Niebuhr (@FormerBu) October 23, 2017
Ok, in light of this latest tweet, I will confirm that @FormerBu is, in fact, James Comey himself. https://t.co/6QbhOG7Qzp
— Benjamin Wittes (@benjaminwittes) October 23, 2017
