President Donald Trump lashed out on Friday against former FBI director James Comey in an Instagram post containing an image that Trump’s senior officials said it was a threat.
In an Instagram publication now eliminated, Comey showed a photo of “8647” written in sea shells in Arena, with the legend “Fresh shell formation on my beach walk”.
Some allies of Trump’s extreme right, including Laura Loomer, have claimed that Comey is asking for violence against the president.
However, “86” something has quite broad interpretations such as an argot term, and it can simply mean nix or “get rid of” something, something, According to Merriam-Webster.
Comey said he thought that the message in the placement of the projectiles was political, but that he did not realize that he required violence against Trump.
“It never occurred to me, but I oppose the violence of any kind,” Comey said in another post on Instagram.
President Donald Trump attends a business forum at Abu Dhabi, on May 16, 2025.
Brendan Smialowski/AFP through Getty Images
Trump, however, in an interview, except Friday, said the “Special Fox News report with Bret Baier” that does not buy Comey’s explanation.
“I knew exactly what that meant. A child knows what that meant. If you are the FBI director and you don’t know what that meant, that meant murder,” said the president.
Trump fired Comey in his first administration, and the president said that Comey still has an ax to grind.
“Well, he apologized because he was beaten, it’s a very bad guy,” Trump said.
President Donald Trump speaking during a round table about fiscal policy at White Sulphur Springs, W.va., April 5, 2018, left, and former FBI director James Comey spoke during an audience of the Senate Intelligence Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, June 8, 2017.
Evan vucci | Andrew Harnik/AP
David Kelley, a lawyer who represents Comey, refused to comment on the matter.
The president did not take a position on whether Comey, whom he described a “dirty police”, should be investigated, saying that he would postpone Attorney General Pam Bondi.
The Secretary of National Security, Kristi Noem, said Thursday in an X publication that the United States Secret Service was investigating Comey’s Post.
“FBI’s former director James Comey only asked for the murder of @potus Trump,” he said.
A spokesman for the United States Secret Service said that the agency is aware of the publications and that “rhetoric like this” is taken very seriously.
“The Secret Service strongly investigates anything that can be taken as a potential threat against our protected,” said Anthony Guglielm in a statement.
The Secret Service was expected to interview Comey on Friday, sources familiar with the matter said, and Noem confirmed that night that the Secret Service agents interviewed him on the post.
Derek Mayer, the former special agent of the Secret Service in charge of the Chicago field office, told ABC News that an investigation would probably include an interview of the subject who made the threat.
“The secret service would also interview the subject’s nearby associates to determine if the person has had any rapid change or decreased mental health, access to weapons, travel and general welfare,” he said.
The Secret Service has declined to comment.
The director of the FBI, Kash Patel, also said that he was aware of the position and that he was providing support to Noem’s efforts.
The former director of the FBI, James Comey, speaks at the Harvard Kennedy school with Eric Rosenbach of Harvard on February 24, 2020 in Boston, Massachusetts.
Paul Marotta/Getty Images
The director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard asked that Comey be imprisoned.
“Any other person with a position of influence he has, people who take very seriously what a type of their stature, their experience and what the propaganda means have created it, I am very worried about the president’s life,” he told Fox News hosts host Jesse Waters.
She said Comey should be put “after bars.”
ABC News and Katherine Faulders Jack date contributed to this report.
