President Donald Trump said James Comey promoted his assassination on social media, claiming the ex-FBI director knew the post called for violence against him. (Watch the video below.)
Trump’s allegations are sure to ignite already-smoldering MAGA outrage over Comey sharing a photo of beach shells in the formation of “86 47” on Instagram.
Comey is now being investigated by the Secret Service and the Department of Homeland Security amid allegations he was advocating for Trump’s murder. The “86” has been interpreted by Republicans as a call to violence against the 47th president, Trump. The common definition of “86” is to remove or get rid of, but another meaning is to kill.
Comey, who happened upon the shell formation on the beach, later said he had no idea there was a violent connotation. “I oppose violence of any kind so I took the post down,” he wrote.
“He knew exactly what that meant,” Trump told Fox News’ Bret Baier in an interview snippet shared Friday. “A child knows what that meant. If you’re FBI director and you don’t know what that meant, 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. And he did it for a reason, and he was hit so hard because people like me and they like what was happening with our country. ... All this, and he’s calling for the assassination of the president.”
