US
Former FBI director interviewed after cryptic post ‘threatening’ Donald Trump
A former FBI director has been interviewed over a social media post interpreted by US officials as a threat against the US president.
James Comey, who led the bureau from 2013 until he was fired in 2017 by Donald Trump during his first term in office, shared a photo of seashells appearing to form the number 86 47.
He captioned the Instagram post: “Cool shell formation on my beach walk.”
Some US officials have interpreted the post as a threat, alleging that 86 47 means to violently remove Mr Trump from office, including by assassination.
Mr Comey later removed the post, saying he thought the numbers “were a political message” and that he was not aware that the numeric arrangement could be associated with violence.
“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,” Mr Comey said.
Mr Trump later hit back, rejecting the former FBI director’s explanation and telling Fox News: “He knew exactly what that meant”.
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US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in a post on X, confirmed Mr Comey had been interviewed as part of “an ongoing investigation” but gave no indication of whether he might face further action.
The Secret Service is part of the Department of Homeland Security.
A spokesman for the Secret Service, which is responsible for protecting the president, said they were aware of the post and the agency would “take rhetoric like this very seriously”.
Current FBI Director Kash Patel said the bureau was aware of the post and was conferring with the Secret Service.
The Department of Homeland Security and the Secret Service are investigating the post “calling for the assassination” of Mr Trump and “will respond appropriately”, Homeland Security secretary Kristi Noem said on Thursday.
Pic: AP/Alex Brandon
Donald Trump Jr. accused Mr Comey of “casually calling for my dad to be murdered”.
A White House deputy chief of staff, Tayor Budowich, said Mr Comey had put out “what can clearly be interpreted as a hit on the sitting president of the United States”.
“This is deeply concerning to all of us and is being taken seriously,” Mr Budowich wrote on the social media platform X.
Another White House staffer, James Blair, said the post was a “Clarion Call (…) to terrorists & hostile regimes to kill the President of the United States as he travels in the Middle East”.
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Mr Trump fired Mr Comey in May 2017 for botching an investigation into 2016 democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, the White House said at the time.
While Mr Comey was the director of the FBI, the agency opened an investigation into possible collusion between the Trump 2016 presidential campaign and Russia to help get Mr Trump elected.