What does 8647 imply? The ‘code’ that landed James Comey in scorching water with the Secret Service | EUROtoday

Former FBI director James Comey was made the topic of an arrest warrant by the Department of Justice for allegedly calling for the assassination of Donald Trump – by posting an image of sea shells on Instagram.

Prosecutors insisted of their indictment that the {photograph} of the shells spelling out the numbers “8647” – which Comey took down shortly after posting it final May when it was interpreted by on-line conservatives as veiled advocacy for political violence – was “a serious expression of an intent to do harm to the president of the United States.”

Responding in a video on Substack Tuesday, Comey stated: “Nothing has changed. I’m still innocent; I’m still not afraid. I still believe in an independent justice system.”

Comey was additionally focused by the DOJ final yr, when the then-U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Lindsey Halligan, accused him of mendacity to Congress. He denied the costs earlier than the case was tossed with out reaching trial when Halligan was dominated to have overstayed her time period in workplace.

The try and prosecute the previous director was seen by many as certainly one of a number of efforts by the Trump administration to go after outdated enemies of the president, accusations prone to be repeated over the brand new indictment.

What does 8647 imply?

According to Comey himself, he merely got here throughout the shells already within the formation proven in his put up throughout a stroll on a North Carolina seaside together with his spouse, who first pointed them out to him. He “assumed they were a political message,” he stated, however claimed to not perceive it.

His opponents, nonetheless, have been fast to allege that the message contained a direct menace levelled on the president.

According to Merriam-Webster’s dictionary, to “86” means to “to throw out” or “get rid of” and derives from a Nineteen Thirties slang time period for “sold out.”

The quantity 47, in the meantime, is believed to seek advice from Trump, as he’s the forty seventh president of the United States.

According to USA Todayciting a e book entitled The History and Stories of the Best Bars of New York (2006), the usage of “86” as a verb is alleged to originate with the celebrated pub Chumley’s in Greenwich Village, Manhattan, which stood on 86 Bedford St and was identified for tossing its drunken patrons out into the road after they turned disorderly – or “86-ing” them.

Merriam-Webster’s acknowledges that “to kill” is a extra trendy utilization of the time period however explains it has not adopted it “due to its relative recency and sparseness of use.”

The suggestion made by outraged Republicans was that the mixture of the 2 numbers constituted a direct menace in opposition to the president’s life.

The uproar finally led Comey to delete the picture, though he defended his actions after doing so.

“I didn’t realize some folks associate those numbers with violence,” he defined. “It never occurred to me, but I oppose violence of any kind, so I took the post down.”

Who is James Comey?

The ex-government official, 65, started his profession as a lawyer earlier than taking the helm because the seventh director of the FBI in 2013.

His four-year tenure, which started below former Barack Obama, was quickly ended by Trump, who ordered his dismissal in May 2017 4 months after coming into the White House. Comey had been main the investigation into alleged Russian interference within the 2016 presidential election to Trump’s benefit.

“I just fired the head of the F.B.I. He was crazy, a real nut job,” the president stated on the time, “I faced great pressure because of Russia. That’s taken off.”

A feud between the 2 males subsequently ensued, with Trump insisting the allegations in opposition to him amounted to a Democratic “witch hunt,” a declare he has made about many different points since.

Trump went on to name Comey “a terrible guy” in 2019 and berated his management group on the FBI for being “not clean, to put it mildly,” throughout an interview on Sean Hannity’s Fox News present.

What was the preliminary response to the image?

The president’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino, then-Homeland Security secretary Kristi Noem, and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard all claimed the shell picture amounted to an overt name for the assassination of the president.

Gabbard stated the put up was extremely regarding as a result of Trump had already confronted “two assassination attempts on his life.”

Comey’s successor, Kash Patel, additionally stated on the time that the Secret Service was wanting into the matter and MAGA influencer Laura Loomer tried to marshal the outrage on social media.