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 extreme right -wing allies of President Trump, including Laura Loomer, have claimed that Comey is asking for violence against President Trump.
However, “86” something has quite broad interpretations such as a term of jargon, and can simply mean Nix or “get rid of” something.
Comey says he thought the message was political, but he did not realize that he required violence against Trump.
President Donald Trump attends a business forum at Abu Dhabi, on May 16, 2025.
Brendan Smialowski/AFP through Getty Images
“It never occurred to me, but I oppose the violence of any kind,” Comey said in another post on Instagram.
Trump, however, told Fox News Friday that he was not buying the explanation of Comey.
“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 had an ax to grind.
“Well, he apologized because he was beaten, it’s a very bad guy,” Trump said.
The president did not take a position on whether Comey should be investigated or not, but deferred to the attorney general Pam Bondi.
The Secretary of National Security, Kristi Noem, said Thursday in an X publication that the United States Secret Service is investigating Comey’s Post.
“FBI’s former director James Comey only asked for the murder of @potus Trump,” he said.
