What does 8647 mean? Did the former FBI director threaten Trump’s life?

An Instagram post from Thursday has generated controversy after former FBI Director James Comey posted a picture of a shell formation showing the numbers 86-47.

Comey added the text: ‘cool shel formation’. The post was subsequently deleted from his account.

The former FBI director later posted another apologetic message after the first post created a wave of polemic.

Trump Jr. posts shell pic

Several Trump allies, including the President’s son Donald Trump Jr. accused Comey of calling for the president’s assassination in a now-deleted Instagram post. He denied it was meant as a threat.

“Just James Comey causally calling for my dad to be murdered. This is who the Dem-Media worships. Demented!!!!” posted Trump¡s eldest son on X/Twitter.

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, “eighty-six” can informally mean “to get rid of”, with the 47 representing Trump as the 47th United States President.

“We are aware of the social media posts by the former FBI director and we take rhetoric like this very seriously. Beyond that, we do not comment on protective intelligence matters,” Anthony Guglielmi, the Department of Home Security chief of communications said in a statement.

Comey was four years into a 10-year term when he was dismissed by Trump back in May 2017.

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