James Comey says he was not aware of the coded threat message in the numbers 86-47, depicted in the photograph of seashells he shared on social media.
A pair of federal agencies are investigating former FBI Director James Comey over a possible threat via social media against President Donald Trump, who fired him eight years ago, officials said Thursday.
Comey said that he had not been aware of the coded threat message in his post—a picture of seashells on a beach arranged into numbers—which he later deleted.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem alleged on social media platform X on May 15 that Comey had “just called for the assassination” of Trump. Noem said her office was investigating the alleged threat along with the Secret Service and that both agencies “will respond appropriately.”
Disgraced former FBI Director James Comey just called for the assassination of @POTUS Trump.
— Secretary Kristi Noem (@Sec_Noem) May 15, 2025
DHS and Secret Service is investigating this threat and will respond appropriately.
Noem’s statement came in response to an Instagram post by Comey that sparked a social media firestorm; more than 213,000 posts mentioned Comey’s name on X as the controversy gained traction and widespread media coverage.
Comey had written, “Cool shell formation on my beach walk,” to describe a photograph. It depicted small seashells that had been arranged to form two sets of numbers: “86”—a slang term meaning “to get rid of”—and “47,” the number of Trump’s current presidential term.
Comey later deleted the post and wrote a second post, saying he assumed the numbers constituted “a political message.”
“I didn’t realize some folks associated those numbers with violence,” he wrote. “It never occurred to me but I oppose violence of any kind so I took the post down.”
Neither post indicated where the photo was taken or whether Comey knew who had configured the seashells into those numbers.
In response, Trump criticized Comey.
“He knew exactly what that meant. A child knows what that meant,” he told Fox News on May 16. “If you’re the FBI director and you don’t know what that meant—that meant assassination.”
The president said Comey “apologized because he was hit.”
Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s director of national intelligence, said she didn’t believe Comey’s claim to be ignorant of the mob-related “lingo.”
By Janice Hisle
