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Former FBI chief James Comey is facing an investigation after he shared an image on social media, of seashells on a beach arranged to resemble the numbers 8647.
Comey, who was fired by Trump in 2017, is facing backlash from MAGA over the post with key figures in Trump’s team making serious allegations against him. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, whose agency oversees the Secret Service, said on X that DHS and the Secret Service were "investigating this threat and will respond appropriately."
But why has the post attracted so much criticism from Trump’s supporters? Below we look at what it could all mean.
What does 8647 mean?
Comey claims that he came across the shells in that formation during a walk on the beach, and “assumed [the sea shells] were a political message. His opponents claim that message was a threat aimed at the president.
According to the dictionary site Merriam-Webster, “86” means to "to throw out,” or “get rid of,” and derives from a 1930s slang term for “sold out.” The number 47 is believed to refer to President Trump, as the 47th president.
According to USA Today, citing a book titled The History and Stories of the Best Bars of New York (2006), the use of “86” as a verb is said to originate with the celebrated pub Chumley’s in Greenwich Village, Manhattan, which stood on 86 Bedford St and was known for tossing its drunken patrons out into the street when they became disorderly – or “86-ing” them.
Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary acknowledges that “to kill” is a more modern usage of the term but explains it has not adopted it “due to its relative recency and sparseness of use.”
The suggestion from Republicans, including Trump’s son Donald Jr, is that the combination of the two numbers is a direct threat to the president.
Backpedaling on his post, Comey took to Instagram late Thursday evening to defend his actions after deleting the image.
“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.”
Who is James Comey?
The 64-year-old ex-government official began his career as a lawyer before taking the helm as the seventh director of the FBI in 2013.
His four-year tenure that began under former Barack Obama was crushed by Trump, who ordered his dismissal in May 2017 after he became president. Comey had been leading the investigation into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election .
“I just fired the head of the F.B.I. He was crazy, a real nut job,” Trump said at the time, “I faced great pressure because of Russia. That’s taken off.”
A feud between Trump and Comey ensued following the firing, as Trump believed the allegations of interference were a “witch hunt”.
Trump went on to blast Comey “a terrible guy” in 2019 and berated his leadership team at the FBI for being “not clean, to put it mildly,” during an interview on Fox News’ Hannity show.
What has the reaction to the picture been?
Donald Trump Jr, and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino claimed the picture was a call to ‘assassinate’ Trump.
“Just James Comey casually calling for my dad to be murdered. This is who the Dem-Media worships. Demented!!!!” wrote Trump Jr. on X Thursday night.
Conservative MAGA pundit Laura Loomer also expressed her shock on X.
“WOW! Former FBI Director James Comey just posted this on his Instagram 2 hours ago, with the caption “cool shell formation on my beach walk”. It’s a pic of shells in the form of “86 47”. This is a call for the assassination of President Trump by the former FBI Director!,” she said.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said she felt that Comey should be jailed for the post while being asked by Fox News anchor Jesse Watters.
Gabbard said the post was highly concerning, especially since Trump had already faced “two assassination attempts on his life.”
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