He’s in a lot of trouble now over some sea shells on the beach | Photo: Shutterstock
The former FBI Director James Comey called for “eighty-sixing” Donald Trump. Now several government agencies, including the Secret Service, Homeland Security, and the FBI are investigating him because he allegedly called for the “assassination” of the White House resident via an Instagram post where he showed seashells forming the numbers 86 and 47, in reference to the term “remove” or “kill” the 47th US President.
“Disgraced former FBI Director James Comey just called for the assassination of @POTUS Trump,” said Kristi Noem, the Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS) on X. “The DHS and Secret Service are investigating this threat and will respond appropriately.” By the way, she wrote “is” instead of “are”.
Comey caused outcry among Trump Administration officials with an Instagram post that showed seashells forming the numbers 86 and 47. The number 86 is a common restaurant term for removing something. And 47 refers to Trump because he is the 47th president of the United States.
Comey removed the post, but it was too late
Comey then removed the Instagram post and then posted another one saying, “I posted earlier a picture of some shells I saw today on a beach walk, which I assumed were a political message.” He added: “I didn’t realise 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, X user @bentelaviv hung a video of Comey on the beach and his removed post. Dozens of other people also reposted Comey’s “8646” message.
Trump on Fox News, his son and Musk on X
Trump went on Fox News and said Comey “knew exactly what that meant. A child knows what that meant … that meant assassination.” The president said Comey was not competent as an FBI director, “but he was competent enough to know what that meant. And he did for a reason.”
The current FBI Director Kash Patel wrote on X that, “We are aware of the recent tweet by former FBI Director James Comey, directed at President Trump.”
Patel also said the FBI is in contact with the Secret Service and Director Curran. Primary jurisdiction is with SS on these matters, and we, the FBI, will provide all necessary support.”
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Taylor Budowich wrote in his social media post that Comey’s message “can clearly be interpreted as ‘a hit’ on the sitting President of the United States,” and said “this is deeply concerning to all of us and is being taken seriously.”
Donald Trump Jr, the president’s eldest son, also had his say on X: “James Comey casually calling for my dad to be murdered. This is who the Dem-Media worships. Demented!!!!”
Elon Musk also commented: “Advocating for the murder of the President is a serious crime.”
How about Merriam-Webster
The Merriam Webster meaning of 86 is: “to refuse to serve (a customer); to eject or ban; to eject, dismiss or remove (someone).”
And here is where it gets tricky, because one of Merriam Webster’s examples in sentences with 86 says, “The prof and his lovely wife…are ghosts, having recently been eighty-sixed from this world when a falling rock hit their car.”
Comey served as the FBI’s director between 2013 and 2017.
He had a tormentous tenure that included presiding over the high-profile inquiry into Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton’s email just weeks before the 2016 election, which she ended up losing to Trump. Trump fired him amid an investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Trump was the target of two assassination attempts during his presidential campaign in 2023. Once, during a July 13th rally in Pennsylvania, a 20-year-old gunman fired at him, grazing the president’s ear. The second was on September 14th, when a man allegedly intended to kill him by aiming a rifle at Trump when he was playing golf at his West Palm Beach resort.
Having most of the fiery debate taken place on X, viraltrendingcontent could not have ended this article without a post by Grok: “Some interpret ‘86’ as slang for ‘kill’ and ‘47’ as a reference to Trump, the 47th president, suggesting a threat.”
Let’s ask Grok what it thinks
Elon Musk’s AI language model also wrote: “Public reaction is split, with some seeing it as a coded message and others as a misunderstanding amplified by political tensions. Without clear evidence of intent, it’s uncertain if this was a threat or an innocent post. The controversy reflects how polarised contexts can fuel overinterpretation.”
