FBI’s Bongino Says He Found Room With James Comey-Era Evidence That Was ‘Hidden From Us’

‘I wouldn’t call it hidden, but hidden from us at least and not mentioned to us,’ the FBI deputy director say.

Dan Bongino speaks onstage during Politicon 2018 at the Los Angeles Convention Center in California on Oct. 21, 2018. Phillip Faraone/Getty Images for Politicon

FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino said on Thursday that his office discovered evidence from former FBI Director James Comey’s tenure in a room that was “hidden from us,” as FBI officials have been forced to redirect assets.

“I wouldn’t call it hidden, but hidden from us at least and not mentioned to us, and then we found stuff in there and a lot of it’s from the Comey-era, and we are working our damndest right now to declassify,” Bongino told Fox News on May 29.

He added that “I totally understand people saying, ‘Well, do it now.’ The process is [that] not all information is ours to declassify; some is other intelligence agencies, it’s not—we literally can’t do it.”

“Once that gets done and that gets out there, and you read some of the stuff, we found that ... was not processed through the normal procedure, digitizing it, putting it in FBI records. We found it in bags hiding under Jim Comey’s FBI, and you’re going to be stunned,” Bongino said.

Bongino did not go into detail about what was discovered but offered criticism of Comey, who was fired during the first Trump administration. Bongino was responding to a question from a Fox News anchor regarding previous comments from FBI Director Kash Patel about a social media post that Comey had made.

Comey generated headlines earlier this month after he posted to Instagram an image that showed seashells arranged on the beach that read, “8647,” with a caption that read, “Cool shell formation on my beach walk.” Some administration officials say the message was directed at President Donald Trump.

The term “86,” which originates from the restaurant and hospitality business, generally means to eject someone or reject, discard, or cancel something or a person, according to Merriam-Webster’s definition. It can also mean to murder, execute, or kill someone, according to the Collins Dictionary. Meanwhile, “47” could refer to Trump, who is the 47th president.

The president said the message was intended as a call to assassinate him and told Fox News last week that Comey “knew exactly what that meant,” referring to the “8647” in Comey’s post. “If you’re the FBI director and you don’t know what that meant—that meant assassination.”

The former FBI director, who has had a frosty relationship with Trump and released a crime-related novel on May 21, denied in media appearances the accusation of ill intentions behind his post.

“I regret the distraction and the controversy around it. But again, it’s hard to have regret about something that, even in hindsight, looks to me to be totally innocent,” he told MSNBC on May 20. He also said that his wife told him to take a picture of the shells and upload it to social media.

On Wednesday, FBI Director Kash Patel said in a Fox News interview that he had to pull agents from other investigations and duties to deal with what he said are Comey-inspired copycat threats to Trump.

“Do you know how many copycats we’ve had to investigate as a result of that beachside venture from the former director?” Patel told the outlet. “Do you know how many agents I’ve had to take offline from chasing down child sex predators, fentanyl traffickers, terrorists, because everywhere across this country, people are popping up on social media?”

In response to the Instagram image, Patel previously said in a social media post on May 15 that agents interviewed Comey after the post, adding that the message was “directed at President Trump.”

“We are in communication with the Secret Service and Director [Sean] Curran,” Patel said. “Primary jurisdiction is with SS on these matters, and we, the FBI, will provide all necessary support.”

The Epoch Times contacted Comey for comment on Thursday.

Since Trump entered politics, he has so far been the target of four publicly known assassination attempts, two of which were in the past year.