President Donald Trump has weighed in on a now-deleted Instagram post by former FBI Director James Comey, which Trump supporters insist was a death threat. And while Trump didn’t outright call for Comey to be prosecuted, he heavily suggested that using the mafia-style speak he’s become known for over the years.
“A child knows what that meant,” Trump said in a clip that aired on Fox News. “If you’re the FBI director and you don’t know what that meant, that meant assassination. And it says it loud and clear.”
Comey posted a photo to Instagram Thursday that showed seashells spelled out to read “86 47,” a reference to Trump as the 47th president. The number 86 is commonly used in the restaurant industry and means to expel or remove (like a customer or dish) but can also mean to “kill” in other contexts. Comey deleted the post and wrote a follow-up that said he opposed violence of any kind. But top officials in the Trump administration, including FBI Director Kash Patel and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, said there will be an investigation. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said Comey should be thrown in prison.
Trump weighed in on the controversy during an interview with Bret Baier that’s scheduled to air later today, though it’s not clear exactly when it was filmed. Fox & Friends played the clip of Trump on Friday morning while insisting that Comey intended it as a threat against Trump’s life. The president, who’s currently in the Middle East, said that Comey only deleted the post because he was “hit hard” over it, apparently a reference to the whining on social media platform X.
“Now, he wasn’t very competent, but he was competent enough to know what that meant,” Trump told Baier. “And he did it for a reason and he was hit so hard. Because people like me, and they like what’s happening with our country. Our country has become respected again and all this… and he’s calling for the assassination of the president.”
Baier interjected, saying, “Obviously he apologized and said he wasn’t calling for violence.” But Trump said he only apologized “because he was hit” and called Comey a “very bad person.” Baier then asked Trump what he wanted to see happen and the president referred to Pam Bondi, the Attorney General who frequently appears on Fox News.
“I don’t want to take a position on it because that’s going to be up to Pam and all of the great people,” Trump said. “But I will say this, I think it’s a terrible thing. And when you add his history to that… if he had a clean history, he doesn’t. He’s a dirty cop. He’s a dirty cop. And if he had a clean history, I could understand if there was a leniency. But I’m going to let them make that decision.”
Reading between the lines, it’s easy to see what Trump is saying here. He wants Comey to be thrown in jail and the only thing keeping him from saying that explicitly is probably the fact that so many top Trump officials have already said as much. Gabbard appeared on Jesse Watters’s show Thursday night and was asked whether she thinks Comey should be locked up.
“I do,” Gabbard said. “I’m very concerned for the president’s life. We’ve already seen assassination attempts. I’m very concerned for his life, and James Comey, in my view, should be held accountable and put behind bars for this.”
Comey was appointed Director of the FBI in 2013 by President Barack Obama and was fired in May 2017 by President Trump during his first term. Trump was unhappy with the investigations at the FBI related to his campaign’s contacts in 2016 with the Russian government, which were very real. But Trump has largely been successful at calling all of that the “Russia Hoax,” while ignoring the extensive connections.
It’s a crime to call for the death of the president, and one of the few things that’s not protected under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, as the famous 2007 sketch from comedy group The Whitest Kids You Know pointed out. But Comey says he wasn’t calling for the death of President Trump and, given the many interpretations of the number 86, it’s almost certainly constitutionally protected speech.
The question is whether the Trump regime arrests Comey and tries to test that theory in court. Because even if they lose, Trump’s government is likely to just do whatever they want anyway. Remember Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the man who was wrongly deported to El Salvador and then the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Trump needed to bring him back? Trump still hasn’t brought him back to the U.S. and apparently has no plans to.
Trump has previously said he wants to send American citizens to El Salvador’s torture prison. It would be an absurd idea to even contemplate in any other era, but it’s entirely possible Trump’s goons may not just toss Comey in some U.S. jail. Comey could find himself in an overseas prison with absolutely no recourse.
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