Former FBI Director James Comey met with the U.S. Secret Service on Friday when he was called to discuss what supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump claimed were threats to the president, Kristi Noem, the Secretary of Homeland Security.
Noem said in an article on X that “ongoing investigation” is underway, but there is no indication whether Comey may take further action.
A law enforcement official who asked not to be named said the Secret Service was in charge of presidential security and was part of the Department of Homeland Security, interviewed Comey at the Washington Field Office on Friday afternoon.
The meeting began around 6 p.m. ET and lasted about an hour, the official said. Comey was asked to show up voluntarily after coming in, sources said.
Federal law enforcement agencies were investigating an Instagram post by Comey on Thursday, with a photo of the number 8647 formed by shells on the beach and commenting: “Cool shells formed on my beach trail.”
In American language, the number 86 can be used as a verb, which means throwing someone into a bar because of drunkenness or disorder. Trump is the 47th president of the United States.
Comey was fired by Trump in 2017 and said on Instagram after a backlash from Trump supporters: “I never happened, but I opposed any kind of violence, so I fell down my post.”
Some Trump supporters interpreted the message as a call for a violent evacuation of Trump from the office, including through assassination.
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary says on its website that the latest meaning of the term 86 is “kill”, but it does not adopt it due to its relative freshness and sparseness of use.
“Today, the federal agents of @SecretService interviewed the former FBI FBI director Comey's call for the assassination of President Trump,” Neum said in a post on X.
“I will continue to take all the necessary measures to ensure protection of @potus Trump. This is an ongoing investigation.”
'He knows exactly what this means': Trump
Trump himself accused Comey of calling for him assassination on Friday, rejecting the former FBI director's explanation that he did not know any of the violence.
“He knows exactly what this means,” Trump said before leaving Abu Dhabi on a four-day trip to the Middle East, before an interview with Fox News.
Comey was unable to comment.
During the period when Trump and his former Democratic Us Demand Us Dection Us Dection Us Dection Us Dection Us Dection Us Dection Us Dection Us Dection Us Dection Us Dection Us Dection Us Dection Us Dection Us Dection Us Dection Us Dection Us Dection Us Dection Us Dection Us Dection Us Dection Us Dection Us Dection Us Dection Us Themes have been used as political slogans and t-shirts.
Early in his first term, Trump fired Comey, who served as a director of the FBI, has been leading an investigation into possible collusion with Russia in Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.
Comey has been a sharp critic of his former boss, calling him “morally inappropriate” in an interview in 2018.
Trump himself is accused of using Twitter posts to incite thugs, who attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021 to prevent the certification of Biden's election victory.
Last year, Trump also posted a video on social media, including the image of Biden, who was then president with his hands and feet tied to the back of a pickup truck.
