James Comey is under investigation for his '8647' Instagram post. What does it mean?

The Trump medication is investigating erstwhile FBI Director James Comey implicit a societal media station that immoderate authorities officials and supporters of President Trump are interpreting arsenic a menace to the president.

On Thursday, Comey shared a representation connected Instagram of seashells connected a formation arranged into the numbers "8647." The caption read: "Cool ammunition enactment connected my formation walk."

"Eighty-six" is simply a slang term that means "get escaped of," and Trump is the 47th (and 45th) president of the United States. According to Merriam-Webster, the astir communal meaning of 86 — which has its roots successful the work manufacture — is to "throw out" oregon "refuse work to" a customer. The dictionary notes that the word has besides travel to mean "to kill." But the dictionary says it does not see this meaning successful the authoritative introduction "due to its comparative recency and sparseness of use."

The station sparked uproar among immoderate Republicans, who suggested Comey was threatening the president. Donald Trump Jr. accused him of "calling for my dada to beryllium murdered."

But Comey, who deleted the photograph wrong hours, said helium assumed the shells were a "political message," not a convulsive one. It's unclear who created the ammunition formation.

Comey has been an outspoken professional of Trump since helium led the FBI during the president's archetypal term. Trump fired Comey successful 2017, 4 years into his ten-year term, arsenic helium was overseeing an probe into alleged Russian meddling successful the 2016 election.

"I didn't recognize immoderate folks subordinate those numbers with violence," Comey wrote connected Instagram. "It ne'er occurred to maine but I reason unit of immoderate benignant truthful I took the station down."

Several Republican politicians are calling for Comey to look consequences ranging from an investigation to an arrest. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced precocious Thursday that her section and the Secret Service are "investigating this menace and volition respond appropriately." NPR has reached retired to Comey for remark and did not person a effect earlier work of this story.

Secret Service spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi told NPR connected Friday that the bureau is alert of Comey's station and takes "rhetoric similar this precise seriously."

"The Secret Service vigorously investigates thing that tin beryllium taken arsenic a imaginable menace against our protectees," Guglielmi said.

Some Republicans, including Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, accidental they bash not judge Comey was unaware of the term's convulsive connotations.

"I'm precise acrophobic for the president's life; we've already seen assassination attempts," Gabbard told Fox News connected Thursday. "I'm precise acrophobic for his beingness and James Comey, successful my view, should beryllium held accountable and enactment down bars for this."

Then-candidate Trump survived 2 assassination attempts portion moving for reelection past year.

He was wounded successful a shooting during a July run rally successful Pennsylvania. In September, a antheral trained his firearm connected the president's information item as helium golfed successful Florida, but fled aft being spotted. The man, Ryan Routh, was charged with attempted assassination of a statesmanlike campaigner but has pleaded not blameworthy — and connected Thursday asked a judge to disregard immoderate of the charges against him.

On Friday, Trump told Fox News that helium thinks Comey "knew precisely what helium meant."

"A kid knows what that meant. If you're the FBI manager and you don't cognize ... that meant 'assassination,'" Trump said successful a clip of an interrogation scheduled to aerial Friday night. "And it says it large and clear. He wasn't precise competent, but helium was competent capable to cognize what that meant."

'86' has shown up successful authorities before

This isn't the archetypal clip that "86" has caused a disturbance successful U.S. politics.

It seems to person crossed into the governmental lexicon successful 2018, erstwhile Sarah Huckabee Sanders — then-press caput successful the archetypal Trump medication — was kicked retired of a Virginia restaurant. The restaurant's closing unit wrote "86 Sarah Huckabee Sanders" on their note to the greeting manager, a photograph of which went viral.

In October 2020, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, gave a Zoom interrogation to Meet the Press with an "8645" pin disposable down her, prompting immoderate Republicans to wonderment if she was sending a pointed, oregon perchance violent, message.

Detroit News reported astatine the time that Whitmer's squad said the Trump campaign's absorption was grounds nary 1 successful the run had worked successful the edifice industry.

Anne Curzan, a linguist astatine the University of Michigan, told Michigan Public astatine the clip that the astir close meaning of the word was apt the aforesaid arsenic successful the Huckabee Sanders incident.

"It could mean they're fired, that there's nary much usage for them, they've been asked to leave," she said. "So that meaning is retired determination arsenic well, which is much applicable to the '8645.'"

The "8647" slogan has softly go a codification for absorption to Trump, circulating in TikTok posts and connected protest signs successful caller months.

The online work Distractify reported successful March that radical usage it to mean they don't privation Trump to beryllium president.

"The connection is vague astir however precisely these radical privation to bash that, but it seems that the constituent is to awesome that you don't privation Trump to beryllium successful the White House," it said.

Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah retweeted a photo of 1 specified motion astatine an anti-Trump protestation successful April, saying "All Americans should condemn this."

He condemned Comey's post successful a 14-tweet thread connected Thursday, saying it "hits excessively adjacent to location — and occurs excessively soon aft 2 serious, astir palmy assassination attempts … to beryllium dismissed arsenic a gag oregon harmless hyperbole."

Some liberals spot a treble standard 

Merchandise stamped with "8647," from shirts and hats to bumper stickers and pins, are offered by vendors connected sites similar Amazon and Etsy. So too, however, are "8646" items — a notation to erstwhile President Joe Biden.

NPR has reached retired to Amazon and Etsy to inquire whether those items interruption their seller policies prohibiting items that glorify violence.

Some wide critics connected societal media accidental that Republicans did not look to instrumentality contented erstwhile the aforesaid slogan — oregon adjacent much convulsive rhetoric — was targeted astatine a Democratic president.

They are pointing to examples of convulsive rhetoric by the president and his allies, including Trump's 2024 station connected Truth Social featuring video of a motortruck driving connected the road with an representation of Biden tied up connected the back. In 2021, then-Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., was censured aft sharing an anime video of himself sidesplitting Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and swinging swords astatine Biden.

And immoderate person recovered examples of salient conservatives utilizing the "86" slogan implicit the years, digging up far-right influencer Jack Posobiec's 2022 tweet reading: "86 46." In 2024, then-Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., used the term to picture Republicans who had been removed from office, which did not origin notable contention astatine the time.