Will James Comey be arrested over ‘8647’ Instagram post? FBI, Secret Service launch probe
Former FBI Director James Comey's ‘86 47’ Instagram post has drawn accusations from MAGA supporters suggesting a threat against Donald Trump.
Former FBI Director James Comey found himself in murky water on Thursday after posting what some MAGA supporters claimed was a cryptic threat against Donald Trump.
Comey shared a photo on Instagram showing rocks arranged on a beach to read “86 47,” with the caption, “Cool shell formation on my beach walk.” That simple image quickly spiralled into controversy. MAGAs flooded social media with accusations, arguing that “86” is slang for getting rid of someone and “47” refers to Trump being the 47th president if re-elected. They interpreted the post as a veiled threat to “eliminate” Trump.
The White House responded by saying the post was “being taken seriously,” and the White House officials confirmed that both the FBI and the Secret Service are now looking into the matter.
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Trump administration confirms Secret Service is investigating Comey's ‘86 47’ post
Kristi Noem, the Homeland Security Secretary, said on Thursday that federal investigators are examining a social media post by the former FBI Director.
“Disgraced former FBI Director James Comey just called for the assassination of POTUS Trump. DHS and Secret Service is investigating this threat and will respond appropriately,” Noem wrote in an X post.
The Associated Press reported that the current FBI Director, Kash Patel, also confirmed he was aware of the post and is looping the Secret Service into it.
James Blair, White House deputy chief of staff for legislative affairs, also took to X to post, “This is a Clarion Call from Jim Comey to terrorists & hostile regimes to kill the President of the United States as he travels in the Middle East.”
Notably, in the US military, Article 86 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice flags it as the ‘absent without leave.’
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However, Merriam-Webster, the dictionary AP cited, explains that “86” is commonly used as slang meaning “to throw out,” “to get rid of,” or “to refuse service to.”
“Among the most recent senses adopted is a logical extension of the previous ones, with the meaning of ‘to kill.’ We do not enter this sense, due to its relative recency and sparseness of use,” the dictionary notes.
