US President Donald Trump slammed former FBI Director James Comey on Wednesday, calling him a “dirty cop” after he was accused of posting the numbers “8647” on social media, which authorities say suggested a threat against the president.
Speaking to reporters, Trump said: “If anybody knows anything about crime, they know 86… It’s a mob term for ‘Kill Him’… Have you ever seen the movies?… A mobster says to one of his amazing associates, ’86 him’… The mob uses that term when they want to kill somebody. They say, ’86 and try to make it clear that I’m not using that son.'” that term, ‘son of a gun’ they use a different term…”
Asked if he believed his life was in danger, Trump said: “Probably. I don’t know. Based on what I’m seeing out there, yes. People like Comey have created a huge danger, I think, to politicians and others. Comey is a dirty cop. He’s a very dirty cop. He cheated in the election. He was trying to help Hillary Clinton, I should have known he let a lot of things go. He wasn’t involved, but he should have continued with… No, he’s a dirty cop, he’s crooked.” man.”
According to CNN, James Comey turned himself in to authorities and appeared in federal court in the Eastern District of Virginia on Wednesday. The brief hearing lasted less than 10 minutes, after which the court allowed him to leave without imposing any conditions of release.
Judge William Fitzpatrick noted that similar proceedings had previously imposed no restrictions and said there was no immediate need for such measures. Comey was charged with threatening the president and spreading that threat in interstate commerce.
The allegations stem from a social media post last May in which Comey shared a photo of shells arranged in an “86 47” shape, captioned “cool shell formation.” The post quickly drew criticism from Republican leaders and administration officials who interpreted it as a coded threat against Trump.
Federal prosecutors argued that the sequence was a coded call for violence against a sitting president. In political and soda-counter slang, the term “86” is commonly used to mean “get rid of”, “throw away”, or in more extreme contexts, “kill”. The number “47” refers to Donald Trump’s status as the 47th President of the United States.
Comey, who has been a vocal critic of Trump since his firing in 2017, strongly denied that the post was a threat. He deleted the image shortly after it was posted last year and issued a clarification at the time.
Comey claimed he saw the grenade formation while walking on the beach and assumed it was a “cool” political message against the administration. In a video posted on his Substack after the indictment, Comey remained defiant. “I’m still innocent. I’m still not afraid,” he said. “This is not how the Department of Justice should be.
Comey’s legal team has hinted at plans to challenge the case, arguing that the prosecution is selective and politically motivated. No date has yet been set for his arraignment in North Carolina, where the case will continue.
