BURSTPresident Trump's allies are targeting former FBI Director James Comey over his “8647" social media message, which they claim was a call for the president’s assassination.
But making the case could be difficult, given protections for free speech and the broad meanings behind the eighty-sixing of someone.
In contrast to other administration officials who issued immediate demands for investigations into Comey, Attorney General Pam Bondi has stayed silent on the matter. When reached with questions about plans for a potential prosecution, the Department of Justice (DOJ) declined to comment.
President Trump said he thought Comey’s Instagram photo of seashells on a beach arranged to form the numbers “8647” was a call for his assassination, MAGA influencers online are bashing the former FBI director and top Trump officials and aides are doubling down on accusing Comey of issuing a threat.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) also urged the administration to look into the situation. Democrats on Capitol Hill, for their part, are not rushing to the defense of Comey, who was seen by that party as interfering in the final weeks of the 2016 election between Trump and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.
White House deputy chief of staff Taylor Budowich said Comey’s post “can clearly be interpreted as ‘a hit’ on the sitting president of the United States” and said the message is being taken seriously. Budowich also called on Democrats to “condemn these threats, not stoke them.”
Trump, in an interview with Fox News Channel’s Bret Baier, deferred to Bondi when asked what he wants to see happen in response.
“He knew exactly what that meant. A child knows what that meant. If you’re the FBI director and you don’t know what that meant, that meant assassination. And it says it loud and clear,” Trump said.
Baier, during the interview, noted that Comey apologized and that he clarified in a new post that he did not intend to call for violence and didn’t realize his message would be interpreted that way.
FBI Director Kash Patel said on the social platform 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.”
The Secret Service said it will “vigorously investigate anything that can be taken as a potential threat against our protectees,” adding “we take rhetoric like this very seriously.”
In bringing such cases, however, prosecutors have to balance the content of the alleged threat with other First Amendment protections for free speech.
Cases are generally only brought in instances where it's deemed there was a “true threat” rather than hyperbole or where context makes clear violence is not expected to follow. Charges are most often pursued when there is a specific, individualized threat against a politician.
That could be an uphill battle for the Trump administration, given the broader meanings surrounding eighty-sixing someone. The term originated in the hospitality industry, used to indicate a client should not be served or that a restaurant was out of a particular menu item.
To be sure, Trump and Comey have a history as longtime foes.
The president, during his first term, fired him as the head of the FBI in May 2017 when the FBI was investigating whether Trump’s 2016 campaign was coordinating with Russia or associated with Moscow’s election meddling.
In 2016, just weeks before Election Day, Comey reopened an investigation into Clinton’s use of a private email server, a decision Clinton and others say contributed to her narrow loss to Trump, whom she defeated in the popular vote.
Comey also came under criticism from the right after the FBI decided to not go forward with criminal charges after completing its initial investigation.
Comey was nominated to be director of the FBI by former President Obama in 2013, and he was confirmed in the Senate in a 93-1 vote.
The former top law enforcement official has remained a vocal critic of Trump, warning last year that Trump will take aim at the FBI and DOJ if he wins back the White House.
“Serious for the Justice Department and the FBI, because Trump is coming for those institutions. He knows their power, and I think he has regrets that he didn’t work hard enough to corrupt them last time,” Comey said at the time.
Given the history between Trump and Comey, the president’s son Donald Trump Jr. weighed in immediately that he interpreted the post as a threat.
“Just James Comey causally calling for my dad to be murdered. This is who the Dem-Media worships. Demented!!!!” the president’s son said on X.
Trump officials have since shared that they agree with the assessment, including Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who said federal law enforcement officials are probing the “threat” and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, who said Comey should be “put behind bars.”
Additionally, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said the explanation about the post is Comey is “publicly calling for the murder” of the president and Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) said the message “can be read only to mean ‘kill Trump.’”
Others are calling for a prosecution, despite no updates from DOJ on whether an investigation is underway.
“James Comey needs to be prosecuted,” Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) said on X.
A former Democratic National Committee official called on the party to reject Comey’s post.
“I am not sure what Comey was thinking, and I don’t think anyone does, but it seems like a no-brainer for the party to repudiate the idea of violence publicly,” the source said.
Comey backed former Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential bid in 2024 and former President Biden’s bid in 2020, when he shared a photograph of himself wearing a Biden-Harris 2020 shirt days before election day.
Rebecca Beitsch contributed.