Former Federal Bureau of Investigation director James Comey landed in hot water this week when he made an Instagram post that some argue called for violence against President Donald Trump.
This now-deleted post included a photo of sand with shells in the shape of “8647” and the caption “Cool shell formation on my beach walk.”
Anyone who has worked in the restaurant industry probably knows that “86” commonly refers to items that are out of stock. According to Merriam-Webster, it is also used to mean “get rid of” or “throw out”. Meanwhile “47” is sometimes used to refer to Trump, the 45th and 47th president of the U.S.
In a follow-up Instagram post, Comey said this: “I posted earlier a picture of some shells I saw today on a beach walk, which I assumed were a political message. I didn’t realize some folks associate those numbers with violence. It never occurred to me but I oppose violence of any kind so I took the post down.”
However, the initial post had already garnered a response from those close to Trump, people in his administration and fellow Republicans.
“Arrest Comey,” said Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) in a Thursday X post.
“Today, Congressman Andy Ogles formally demanded that the United States Secret Service and the Federal Bureau of Investigation launch a criminal investigation into former FBI Director James Comey, whose recent social media post has raised credible and disturbing concerns about incitement to violence against the 47th President of the United States, Donald J. Trump,” said a press release from Ogles, also from Tennessee.
“Just James Comey causally calling for my dad to be murdered. This is who the Dem-Media worships. Demented!!!!” said Trump’s son, Donald Jr., in an X post.
Comey has had a controversial relationship with both Democrats and Republicans. Per Britannica, he was nominated to lead the FBI following Robert Mueller’s retirement in 2013 by former President Barack Obama. During his 10-year tenure in the position, he made headlines for an investigation into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server.
“In July 2016, shortly before Clinton was nominated as the Democratic presidential candidate, Comey – in an unprecedented move – gave a press conference in which he questioned her judgment but announced that she had been cleared of criminal impropriety,” Britannica said. “The decision not to bring charges was sharply criticized by Clinton’s opponents, including the Republican nominee, Donald Trump.”
Two weeks before the election, Comey effectively re-opened the case and sent a letter to Congress, to Trump’s satisfaction. Two days before the election, he announced that no criminal activity had been uncovered.
Clinton narrowly lost the election to Trump. In fact, she won the popular vote while Trump won the electoral college. Later Comey said he felt “mildly nauseous” over the possibility that the investigation might have impacted the election.
Comey continued on in his role as director of the FBI after Trump was inaugurated in 2017. Shortly after, he dismissed allegations from Trump that Obama wiretapped his telephones during the presidential race and also announced that he had been investigating whether members of the Trump campaign were colluding with Russian officials to win the election.
“Some criticized the director for not having publicly revealed the probe during the election – as he had when the FBI reviewed additional Clinton e-mails,” said Britannica.
Trump fired Comey in May 2017 and later cited the Russia investigation as one of the reasons. In a Friday interview with Fox News, the president said that he believes Comey “knew exactly what he meant,” with the Instagram post of shells.
“If you’re the FBI director and you don't know… that meant ‘assassination,’” Trump said in a clip. “And it says it loud and clear. He wasn’t very competent, but he was competent enough to know what that meant.”
During his most recent presidential campaign, Trump was the subject of multiple assassination attempts. His ear was clipped by a shooter during one incident at a rally in Butler, Pa.
“Disgraced former FBI Director James Comey just called for the assassination of @POTUS Trump,” said Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in a Thursday X post. “DHS and Secret Service is investigating this threat and will respond appropriately.”
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, also voiced concerns about the post,
“I’m very concerned for the president’s life; we’ve already seen assassination attempts,” Gabbard told Fox News Thursday. “I’m very concerned for his life and James Comey, in my view, should be held accountable and put behind bars for this.”
According to NPR, Secret Service spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi said Friday that his agency is aware of Comey’s post and takes “rhetoric like this very seriously.”