Comey under fire for 'threat to Trump' in seashell photo

Donald Trump has claimed that a social media post by the former FBI director James Comey was a call for the US president’s assassination.

- ALEX WOODWARD IN NEW YORK

On Thursday, Mr Comey posted a picture of seashells spelling out the numbers “8647”, which has been construed by some as a reference to the 47th president – Mr Trump – and the term “86”, which is commonly used in bars and restaurants and means to cancel an order or toss someone out.

“He knew exactly what that meant. A child knows what that meant,” Mr Trump told Fox News host Bret Baier in an interview yesterday. “If you’re the FBI director and you don’t know what that meant, that meant ‘assassination’. It says that loud and clear.” The president called him a “dirty cop” and said he will leave a decision on whether to prosecute him over the post to the attorney general Pam Bondi.

On Instagram, Mr Comey posted an image of the seashells with the caption: “Cool shell formation on my beach walk.” Administration officials quickly fell in line to denounce the post and demand investigations and prosecution.

Kristi Noem, the US secretary of homeland security, swiftly claimed Mr Comey was calling for Mr Trump’s assassination and announced the Department of Homeland Security and the US Secret Service were investigating. Secret Service spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi said the agency is “aware” of Mr Comey’s post and that “we take rhetoric like this very seriously”.