Former FBI Director James Comey Accused Of Threatening Violence Against Trump In '8647' Post
Former FBI Director James Comey is under fire for a photo he posted on Instagram Thursday that showed seashells on a beach arranged to form the numbers “8647,” which many are interpreting as a call to eliminate (or assassinate) President Trump.
The Department of Homeland Security and the Secret Service are investigating the post.
Behind the numbers: The term “86-ed” is often used in restaurants to indicate that an order should be canceled; it is also used in newsrooms, the military, and the mob to indicate eliminating something. Trump is the 47th U.S. president.
Comey denied knowing that the numbers were linked to calls for violence.
REACTIONS
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard argued on Fox News Thursday night that for Comey — a former prosecutor of mobsters and head of the FBI — to claim ignorance is to assume “the American people are so stupid.”
Instead, she said Comey should go to jail for what she called an emerging “assassination culture” on the left where violence against political opponents is downplayed or excused.
In an interview with President Trump set to air Friday night on Fox, the president said, “That meant assassination, and it says it loud and clear. Now he wasn’t very competent, but he was competent enough to know what that meant.” (Here’s a preview of that interview, aired earlier today.)
In 2017, Trump fired Comey four years into his 10-year term as FBI director.
Bottom line: There is little legal ground to act on Comey’s post alone. Georgetown University law professor David Cole told The Washington Post that the Supreme Court has set a “very high standard” in free speech cases.
