Former FBI director James Comey calls controversy over Instagram post 'a
bit of a distraction'
[May 20, 2025]
By HILLEL ITALIE
NEW YORK (AP) — Former FBI director James Comey says that he's still a
bit bewildered over how a seemingly innocent Instagram shot of shells
arranged in the sand led to allegations by Donald Trump among others
that he was calling for the president's assassination and to an
interview with the Secret Service.
“It’s been a bit of a distraction, honestly,” Comey said with a weary
laugh Monday night during an appearance at a Barnes & Noble on
Manhattan's Upper West Side.
Comey was promoting “FDR Drive,” a crime novel coming out this week. One
of the book's themes, ironically, is weighing the potential of speech to
incite others to violence.
Comey, whom Trump fired in 2017 amid an FBI investigation into potential
ties between Russia and Trump’s first presidential campaign, explained
Monday that he and his wife, Patrice, had been returning from a walk on
the beach last Thursday when they came upon some shells organized in a
way that resembled numbers, including “86.”
They speculated over whether it was a home address, or a political
message. His wife noted that “86” in some restaurants means they had run
out of an ingredient. Comey remembered it was slang for saying something
was boring and should be “ditched.”
“And she said, ‘You should take a picture of it.' So I took a picture of
it, and then we walk home and she said, ‘You should really put that on
Instagram. It’s kind of a cool thing.’ I said, 'You’re right. It’s a
cool thing,’” he explained.
To many viewers, the numbers seemed to spell out 86 and 47.
Merriam-Webster, the dictionary used by The Associated Press, says 86 is
slang meaning “to throw out,” “to get rid of” or “to refuse service to.”
It notes: “Among the most recent senses adopted is a logical extension
of the previous ones, with the meaning of ’to kill.'”
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Trump is the country's 47th president.
“Some hours later she (Patrice) said to me, ‘You know, people on the
internet are saying you’re calling for the assassination of Donald
Trump," Comey explained. “And I said, ’Well, if they’re saying that,
I’m taking it down because I don’t want any part of violence.'"
Comey quickly pulled the image, but it had already reached the
attention of Trump and other administration officials, including
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and FBI Director Kash Patel.
Trump himself, interviewed on Friday on Fox News, said that Comey
"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.”
Comey confirmed Monday that he received a call from the Secret
Service later Thursday, spoke to them on the phone and agreed to
meet with them in person.
"And so they gave me a ride to their headquarters, the Washington
field office interviewed me," he said. “It seems like a year ago,
but it was Friday, right? I told them what I just told you. And so
I, it seems like a thing that I don’t fully understand and maybe
it'll go away now."
Comey has written several books since Trump fired him, including the
million-selling memoir “A Higher Loyalty.” More recently, he has
taken up fiction, his previous novels including “Central Park Drive”
and “Westport.”
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