Secret Service investigating ex-FBI Director James Comey's '8647' Instagram post
WASHINGTON − U.S. law enforcement officials said on May 15 that they were looking into a social media post by former FBI Director James Comey depicting an image of "8647," which some Trump supporters interpreted as a threat against President Donald Trump.
Comey, who was fired by Trump in 2017, later took down the post, saying he was unaware the apparent political message could have been associated with violence.
In U.S. parlance, the number 86 can be used as a verb, meaning to throw somebody out of a bar for being drunk or disorderly, and 47 is code for Trump, the 47th president. Some Trump supporters interpreted the message as one to violently remove Trump from office, including by assassination.
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary says on its website that one recent meaning of the term was "to kill" but the site had not adopted that "due to its relative recency and sparseness of use."
The Secret Service, which is responsible for protecting the president, said it was aware of Comey's post but did not assess its meaning.
"The Secret Service vigorously investigates anything that can be taken as a potential threat against our protectees. We are aware of the social media posts by the former FBI director and we take rhetoric like this very seriously. Beyond that, we do not comment on protective intelligence matters," Secret Service spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi said in a statement.
On Friday, Trump responded, accusing his former FBI director of calling for his assassination.
“He knew exactly what that meant. A child knows what that meant," Trump said in an interview with Fox News from Abu Dhabi, where he was finishing a multi-country Middle East trip. "If you’re the FBI director, and you don’t know what that meant? That meant assassination. And it says it loud and clear."
Comey “was hit so hard because people like me and they like what’s happening with our country,” Trump said. “And he’s calling for the assassination of the president.”
Trump himself posted a photo in March 2024 of a Trump flag-waving pickup truck with an image painted on its tailgate door showing then-President Joe Biden hogtied and lying down in the truckbed.
Secret Service agents questioning Comey per protocol
A federal law enforcement official told Paste BN that the Secret Service was sending agents to question Comey about his post, saying that it would do the same for anyone posting a potential threat about a former or current president. The official said that, on the condition of anonymity, to discuss ongoing investigative matters.
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."
Gabbard: Comey should be 'held accountable and put behind bars'
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard went further, saying she believed Comey should be put behind bars for the post. Asked by Fox News anchor Jesse Watters if she believed the former FBI director "should be in jail," Gabbard said, "I do.”
“Any other person with the position of influence that he has, people who take very seriously what a guy of his stature, his experience and what the propaganda media has built him up to be, I'm very concerned for the president's life," Gabbard said. "We've already seen assassination attempts. I'm very concerned for his life and James Comey, in my view, should be held accountable and put behind bars for this."
Current FBI Director Kash Patel said on X that his agency was in communication with the Secret Service about the post and "will provide all necessary support."
Others were more explicit in assigning a malign meaning to Comey's post, with White House Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino saying it was a call to assassinate Trump.
Comey posted an Instagram photo of the number 8647 formed by seashells on the beach.
"Cool shell formation on my beach walk," Comey said.
But after the uproar from Trump supporters, Comey took the post down, saying he had assumed it was merely 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," Comey said.
Origins of the term
While some Trump supporters assumed the term to mean violence, one of the origins of the term 86’d comes from the history of an infamous bar not far from where Comey was born – and where he worked as the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York in Manhattan.
Urban myth in New York has it that the term "86'd" originated when barkeeps threw disorderly guests out of Chumley’s, they did so out the more discreet door located at 86 Bedford St. Another version, cited in the book “The History and Stories of the Best Bars of New York,” was that during Prohibition, police would call the bartenders at Chumley’s to '86' their patrons out the 86 Bedford door so they wouldn’t have to arrest them.
Comey did not return calls and texts seeking comment from Paste BN.
At about the same time as his Instagram post, Comey posted on X a Publishers Weekly announcement about how his latest mystery novel, FDR Drive, will be published May 20.
In the book, his third legal thriller, Comey’s U.S. Attorney protagonist goes after a far-right media personality who "went far beyond the protection of the First Amendment when he singled out his enemies by name and suggested 'something should be done' about them," Publishers Weekly said.
Early in his first term, in May 2017, Trump fired Comey, who as FBI director had been leading an investigation into the Trump 2016 presidential campaign's possible collusion with Russia to help Trump get elected.
(Reuters contributed reporting by Daniel Trotta; Editing by Michael Perry)