FBI Director James Comey Will Not Speak At SXSW

Earlier this year, it was announced that FBI Director James Comey would be speaking at this year’s SXSW in Austin, Texas, in a conversation with Newseum CEO Jeffrey Herbst. Now, the festival has announced that Comey has pulled out of the appearance “due to scheduling conflicts keeping him in Washington D.C.” FBI General Counsel James Baker will now be speaking to Herbst in his stead; the conversation will focus around “the intersection of national security, technology and First Amendment rights.” Yesterday, it was announced that Joe Biden would be speaking at SXSW as well.

Comey was a controversial figure in the final days leading up to the 2016 election, sending a letter to Congress eleven days before Election Day stating that more of Hillary Clinton’s emails would need to be reviewed with regards to her use of a private email server during the time she was Secretary of State. More recently, it was reported that Comey asked the Justice Department to publicly reject President Trump’s claims that Preisdent Obama had wiretapped his phones at Trump Tower.

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