US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Thursday that federal law enforcement was investigating a social media post made by former FBI director James Comey that she and other Republicans suggested was a call for violence against US President Donald Trump.
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In an Instagram post, Comey wrote “cool shell formation on my beach walk” under a picture of seashells that appeared to form the shapes for “86 47”.
Numerous Trump administration officials, including Noem, said Comey was advocating for the assassination of Trump, the 47th president. “DHS and Secret Service is investigating this threat and will respond appropriately,” Noem wrote.
Merriam-Webster says 86 is slang meaning “to throw out”, “to get rid of” or “to refuse service to”. It notes: “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 post has since been deleted. Comey subsequently wrote: “I posted earlier a picture of some shells I saw today on a beach walk, which I assumed were a political message. I didn’t realise some folks associate those numbers with violence.
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“It never occurred to me,” Comey added: “but I oppose violence of any kind so I took the post down”.