Former FBI Director Comey Faces Probes Over ‘86-47’ Post

James Comey says he was not aware of the coded threat message in the numbers 86-47, depicted in the photograph of seashells he shared on social media.
Former FBI Director Comey Faces Probes Over ‘86-47’ Post
James Comey speaks onstage during Former FBI Director James Comey In Conversation With MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace at 92NY in New York City on May 30, 2023. Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images
Janice Hisle
Updated:
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A pair of federal agencies are investigating former FBI Director James Comey over a possible threat via social media against President Donald Trump, who fired him eight years ago, officials said Thursday.

Comey said that he had not been aware of the coded threat message in his post—a picture of seashells on a beach arranged into numbers—which he later deleted.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem alleged on social media platform X on May 15 that Comey had “just called for the assassination” of Trump. Noem said her office was investigating the alleged threat along with the Secret Service and that both agencies “will respond appropriately.”

Noem’s statement came in response to an Instagram post by Comey that sparked a social media firestorm; more than 213,000 posts mentioned Comey’s name on X as the controversy gained traction and widespread media coverage.

Comey had written, “Cool shell formation on my beach walk,” to describe a photograph. It depicted small seashells that had been arranged to form two sets of numbers: “86”—a slang term meaning “to get rid of”—and “47,” the number of Trump’s current presidential term.

Comey later deleted the post and wrote a second post, saying he assumed the numbers constituted “a political message.”

“I didn’t realize some folks associated those numbers with violence,” he wrote. “It never occurred to me but I oppose violence of any kind so I took the post down.”

Neither post indicated where the photo was taken or whether Comey knew who had configured the seashells into those numbers.

In response, Trump criticized Comey.
“He knew exactly what that meant. A child knows what that meant,” he told Fox News on May 16. “If you’re the FBI director and you don’t know what that meant—that meant assassination.”
The president said Comey “apologized because he was hit.”

Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s director of national intelligence, said she didn’t believe Comey’s claim to be ignorant of the mob-related “lingo.”

Anti-Trump protesters used an 86-47 “veiled call to action to murder the sitting president of the United States” about a month ago, Gabbard told Fox News on Thursday, adding, “the dangerousness of this ... cannot be underestimated.”
She cited a recent survey by the Network Contagion Research Institute that found 55 percent of left-of-center respondents believed that assassinating Trump would be “at least somewhat” justified.

“I’m very concerned for the president’s life,” Gabbard said. “And James Comey, in my view, should be held accountable and should be put behind bars for this.”

Trump’s new FBI director, Kash Patel, wrote on X that his office was assisting the Secret Service, which has “primary jurisdiction” over presidential security matters.
Anthony Guglielmi, spokesman for the Secret Service, released a public statement.

“We vigorously investigate anything that can be taken as a potential threat against our protectees. We are aware of the social media posts by the former FBI Director & we take rhetoric like this very seriously. Beyond that, we do not comment on protective intelligence matters,” the statement said.

The Epoch Times has contacted the White House and Comey for further comment.

Trump faced two assassination attempts last year. One left him with a gunshot wound to the right ear at a campaign rally in Butler Township, Pennsylvania; the other was halted before the alleged would-be assassin was able to fire a shot.
Trump, a Republican, fired Comey during his first presidency after several controversies, including Comey’s refusal to prosecute Trump’s Democratic political opponent, Hillary Clinton, for using a private email server to convey sensitive national-security messages.
Jackson Richman contributed to this report.
Janice Hisle
Janice Hisle
Reporter
Janice Hisle mainly writes in-depth reports based on U.S. political news and cultural trends, following a two-year stint covering President Donald Trump’s 2024 reelection campaign. Before joining The Epoch Times in 2022, she worked more than two decades as a reporter for newspapers in Ohio and authored several books. She is a graduate of Kent State University's journalism program. You can reach Janice at: janice.hisle@epochtimes.us
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