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Former FBI director investigated for cryptic post 'threatening' Donald Trump
A former FBI director is being investigated for a social media post interpreted by US officials as a threat against President Donald Trump.
James Comey, who led the bureau from 2013 until he was fired by Mr Trump in 2017, shared a photo of seashells appearing to form the number 86 47 on Instagram. He captioned the post: "Cool shell formation on my beach walk." Some US officials have interpreted the post as a threat, alleging that 86 47 means to violently remove Mr Trump from office, including by assassination.
Mr Comey later removed the post, saying he thought the numbers "were a political message" and that he was not aware that the numeric arrangement could be associated with violence. "I didn't realise some folks associate those numbers with violence.
It never occurred to me, but I oppose violence of any kind, so I took the post down," Mr Comey said. Mr Trump later hit back, claiming that the former FBI director "knew exactly what it meant".
A spokesman for the Secret Service, which is responsible for protecting the president, said they were aware of the post and the agency would "take rhetoric like this very seriously". Current FBI Director Kash Patel said the bureau was aware of the post and was conferring with the Secret Service.
The Department of Homeland Security and the Secret Service are investigating the post "calling for the assassination" of Mr Trump and "will respond appropriately.
Amir Nisi
Creative and experienced content writer with 6+ years of experience lazy to create unique content strategy for News5 to turn website visitors into customers.
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