Dukasaur wrote:All that because he found some seashells....
Let me share what Duk already knows, and so that JimB can accuse me of pasting too much.
The real issues are that:
1) Comey POSTED that photo; and
2) claimed, as the former Head of the FBI (and fired by Trump 45) that he had NO idea what the numbers meant. REALLY? I thought James Comey is supposedly intelligent.
3) Also, it is important to understand the meaning and significance of what Comey posted.
James Comey’s ‘weird’ social media approach lands him in hot water
CNN
James Comey’s controversial, now-deleted Instagram photo of seashells spelling out the numbers “86 47” only adds to a long list of social media posts from the former FBI director that have sparked a mix of both anger and — more often — a heavy dose of eye rolls.
Comey’s social media strategy has transformed from anonymous accounts he secretly kept on Twitter and Instagram in 2017 to a self-promoting approach where he’s posted newsworthy statements, cringe-worthy “dad” jokes, and amateur landscape photography not unlike the seashells on a beach that now have him in hot water with Trump and his allies.
Comey, the 6-foot-8 former Republican who has been a source of fury at times for both parties over the past decade, has also used his social media accounts to boost President Donald Trump’s Democratic opponents in the 2020 and 2024 elections, to push back against attacks from Trump and Republican critics, and as an outlet to give commentary on news events, like special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on the Trump campaign and Russia.
“So many questions,” Comey posted in March 2019, along with a photo of himself looking up at tall trees in a forest, after then-Attorney General William Barr released a cherry-picked summary of the Mueller report.
Now Comey is under investigation by the Trump administration for the post of seashells on a beach that spelled out the numbers “86 47.” The number 86 can often refer to getting rid of or tossing something out, while 47 corresponds to Trump’s current term in office as the 47th president.
And here is MORE, from another source, the BBC. Note a key detail omitted by CNN.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/17/politics/james-comey-social-mediaEx-FBI boss interviewed by Secret Service over Trump seashell post
16 May 2025
Former FBI director James Comey has been interviewed by the US Secret Service after he shared then deleted a social media post that Republicans alleged was an incitement to violence against US President Donald Trump.
Comey voluntarily participated in the questioning for about an hour at the law enforcement agency's Washington DC headquarters and was not held in custody.
It comes a day after he posted on Instagram a photo of seashells that spelled the numbers "8647".
The number 86 is a slang term whose definitions include "to reject" or "to get rid of", however, it has more recently been used as a term to mean "kill". Trump is the 47th US president.
Trump said earlier in the day during an interview with Fox News that Comey, whom he fired as FBI director in 2017, was calling for him to be killed.
What does '86' mean?
More recently, the term has taken on another lesser-known meaning - "to kill", according to Merriam-Webster, the oldest publisher of dictionaries in the US.
from
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1de47kk31eoback to the Main BBC article:
"He knew exactly what that meant," said Trump, who survived two attempts on his life last year. "A child knows what that meant.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c04ezlyq4y0oAnd, also, from BBC:
Former FBI director James Comey is being investigated by the Secret Service after he shared then deleted a social media post, which Republicans alleged was an incitement to violence against US President Donald Trump.
Comey posted on Instagram a photo of seashells that spelled the numbers "8647", which he captioned: "Cool shell formation on my beach walk."
The number 86 is a slang term whose definitions include "to reject" or "to get rid of", according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, which also notes that it has more recently been used as a term meaning "to kill". And Trump is the 47th US president.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c70nqk9rlxpoAnd one more:
A now-deleted photo of seashells posted on Instagram by the former FBI director James Comey is being investigated by the US Secret Service, after the US homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, said it constituted a “threat” against Donald Trump, and set off warnings from other administration officials.
On Thursday, Comey posted a photo of seashells forming the message “8647”, with a caption that read: “Cool shell formation on my beach walk.”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/15/james-comey-instagram-trump