<p>Former FBI Director James Comey embarked on a media tour to save face after an Instagram post landed him in hot water, and he doubled down on claims that he&#8217;d had nothing to do with creating the shell formation he&#8217;d photographed during a casual &#8220;beach walk&#8221; — and that he&#8217;d had no idea the term &#8220;86&#8221; might imply a threat.</p>
<p>Comey first found himself at the center of heated conversation when he shared a photo from the beach, showing seashells that &#8220;someone&#8221; had arranged to form the numbers &#8220;86&#8221; and &#8220;47.&#8221; Critics immediately noted that &#8220;86&#8221; was generally understood to mean &#8220;get rid of&#8221; and &#8220;47&#8221; was a clear reference to President Donald Trump, the 47th president — and they pointed out the fact that Comey should have known better than to post something that so many would interpret as a threat.</p>
<p>The former FBI chief, who was fired by Trump in 2017, claimed at the time that he did not realize the term implied violence and deleted the post — but not before it caught the attention of current FBI Director Kash Patel, and it earned Comey a visit from the United States Secret Service.</p>
<p>Comey doubled down during an appearance on CBS&#8217; &#8220;The Late Show&#8221; with Stephen Colbert, saying again that he and his wife had simply stumbled on the arrangement of seashells — and that he&#8217;d interpreted the message as entirely political.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">🚨JAMES COMEY: “My wife and I were walking on the beach, and saw those numbers in shells on the beach&#8230;somebody else did it!” <a href="https://t.co/LZ6GOX8inv">pic.twitter.com/LZ6GOX8inv</a></p>
<p>— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) <a href="https://twitter.com/townhallcom/status/1925185777530474968?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 21, 2025</a></p></blockquote>
<p>&#8220;My wife and I were walking on the beach, and saw those numbers in shells on the beach,&#8221; he said, adding, &#8220;Somebody else did it!&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;We were on a walk, preparing for this week,&#8221; Comey continued. &#8220;And she said, &#8216;Why&#8217;d somebody put their address in the sand?&#8217; We looked at it, trying to figure out what it was. She&#8217;d long been a server in restaurants. She said, &#8216;You know what I think it is? A reference to restaurants. When you&#8217;d 86 something at a restaurant.&#8217; I said, &#8216;No, I remember as a kid, you&#8217;d say &#8217;86&#8217; to get out of a place. This place stinks, let&#8217;s 86 it.&#8217; So I said, &#8216;I think it&#8217;s a clever political message.'&#8221;</p>
<p>Comey then tossed his wife under the bus, saying that she was responsible for encouraging him to take the photo and post it to his Instagram page. &#8220;She said, &#8216;You should take a picture.&#8217; I said, &#8216;Sure.&#8217; She said, &#8216;You should Instagram that.&#8217; And then, boom.&#8221;</p>

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Damage Control: Jim Comey Insists He Found Trump Threat On Beach, Didn’t Know What ’86’ Meant

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Damage Control: Jim Comey Insists He Found Trump Threat On Beach, Didn’t Know What ’86’ Meant