Former FBI Director James Comey blamed his wife for an Instagram photo that critics say was a veiled call for violence against President Donald Trump.
The post, which featured seashells arranged in the numbers “86” and “47,” was quickly deleted but not before being condemned by national security officials.
Comey, who appeared on MSNBC for his first public comments since the uproar, claimed the idea to photograph and post the shell arrangement originated with his wife.
He claimed that she interpreted “86” based on her experience working in restaurants, believing it signified a discontinued menu item.
“We stood over it and I said, I think it’s some kind of political message and she said, ’86 when I was a server… meant to remove an item from the menu when you ran out of ingredients,'” Comey explained to MSNBC’s Nicole Wallace.
“And I said, well, to me, as a kid, it always meant to leave a place, to ditch a place. I said, that’s really clever,” he explained.
According to Comey, it was then that his wife encouraged him to share the image.
“So then she said, ‘You should take a picture of that.’ And I did, and I posted it on my Instagram account and thought nothing more of it.”
Backlash to the post was swift, led by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, who publicly questioned the motivations behind the image.
During an interview with Fox News host Jesse Watters, Gabbard said that she didn’t believe Comey’s claim that he failed to recognize the violent implications of the numbers he paired in his post.
“I’m very concerned for [Trump’s] life. And James Comey, in my view, should be held accountable and put behind bars for this,” Gabbard said.
“Whatever James Comey’s intent, he and people like him need to be held to account according to the law, which is something that he claims to have given his life for and stands by the rule of law. Fantastic,” Gabbard continued.
“The rule of law says people like him, who issue direct threats against the president of the United States — essentially issuing a call to assassinate him — must be held accountable under the law.”
Supporters of President Trump and administration officials echoed the claim that the image was a coded message meant to incite violence against the 47th president. Comey pushed back on the dissertations, calling them absurd.
“I heard through her that people were saying it was some sort of a call for assassination, which is crazy,” Comey said. “But I took it down. Even if I think it’s crazy, I don’t want to be associated with violence of any kind.”
Comey described the Secret Service agents who questioned him over the incident as “total pros,” and downplayed the interview as routine.
“In the Trump era, I’ve been investigated a lot, audited a lot, and so it’s not my first rodeo,” he continued.
“I’m in some strange way, the relationship he can’t get over. Maybe because I’ve lived a happy, productive life since leaving, but this has just been a distraction in that life,” he claimed.
President Trump, who terminated Comey from the FBI during his first term, shot down the former fed’s dismissal.
“He knew exactly what that meant. A child knows what that meant,” he told Fox News on Friday.
“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, meanwhile, tried to deflect by suggesting that the attacks say more about current political leadership.
“I hope people know enough about that particular person that they understand where it’s coming from,” Comey said.
“It says something more depressing about the leadership of our current administration. And I just shrug because that’s ridiculous.”
The since-deleted Instagram post was accompanied by a caption in which Comey attempted to clarify his intentions.
“I posted earlier a picture of some shells I saw today on a beach walk, which I assumed were a political message. I didn’t realize some folks associate those numbers with violence,” he wrote.
“It never occurred to me but I oppose violence of any kind so I took the post down.”
Despite doubling down on the photo’s innocence, Comey acknowledged during his MSNBC appearance that the backlash had become a disruption.
“Well, I regret the distraction and the controversy around it, but again, it’s hard to have regret about something that, even in hindsight, looks to me to be totally innocent,” he said.
Meanwhile, the FBI under the leadership of Director Kash Patel confirmed that an inquiry into the post is underway.
“We are aware of the recent social media post by former FBI Director James Comey, directed at President Trump,” Patel posted on X.
“We are in communication with the Secret Service and Director Curran. Primary jurisdiction is with SS on these matters and we, the FBI, will provide all necessary support.”
Comey has been a radicalized member of the FBI for a very long time possibly since he joined it. He is a liberal Obama sycophant and worked against Trump from day 1. He belongs in prison for his complicity to weaponize the FBI since the Russia Russia Russia program started. And now the SOB blames his wife for the “86 47” posting on the Internet. What a gutless coward. I would waterboard him to get the truth. He ran the FBI. as an extension of the DNC.
Comey has been a radicalized member of the FBI for a very long time possibly since he joined it. He is a liberal Obama sycophant and worked against Trump from day 1. He belongs in prison for his complicity to weaponize the FBI since the Russia Russia Russia program started. And now the SOB blames his wife for the “86 47” posting on the Internet. What a gutless coward. I would waterboard him to get the truth. He ran the FBI. as an extension of the DNC and demoncRAT party.
See divorce ahead
Just what you would expect from a cowardly, slimy bastard. My wife did it, I didn’t know what it meant. LIAR