Former FBI Director James Comey said that the US Secret Service had a conversation with him after the publication of a photo with shells, which they saw as a call to assassinate President Donald Trump.
Comey said this on the MSNBC channel, the New York Post reports.
The other day, the ex-employee posted a photo on Instagram of shells on the sand, laid out in the form of the numbers 8647. In the US, the number 86 in slang can mean, among other things, “get rid of someone”. And 47 is probably Trump himself, because he is the 47th American president.
James Comeyʼs now-deleted Instagram post. Caption: "Cool shells on my beach walk."
James Comey finds it “hard to regret it”, because the photo still seems “completely innocent” to him. It never occurred to him that the post could be interpreted in that way, but the former FBI director admitted that “these are the times”.
He explained how he took this photo — the man found the shells while walking with his wife.
“We were standing over them, and I said, ʼI think it’s political’, and she said, ʼ86, when I was a waitress, meant that the item was taken off the menu if the ingredients were gone’. And I said, ʼAs a kid, it meant to me to go away, to disappear.’ I said, ʼThat’s really funny’,” Comey explained.
After that, his wife suggested that he take a picture of the shells, which he did, not giving it much importance.
"Then through her I heard people say it was a call to kill, which is crazy. But I deleted it. Even though I think itʼs absurd — I donʼt want to be associated with any violence," Comey continued.
The former official says that the night after the publication of the mysterious photo, he received a call from the Secret Service, and on Friday, May 16, he was interviewed at the serviceʼs office in Washington.
"They acted professionally," Comey commented on his cooperation with the agents.
The MSNBC host mentioned Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbardʼs statement that the former president should be impeached for his controversial position. Comey called it "ridiculous".
"This is more indicative of the pathetic state of the current leadership of the country. I just shrug my shoulders — because itʼs absurd. I donʼt think that shells on the beach will bring me any consequences," he says.
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