Congressman and Florida gubernatorial candidate Byron Donalds (R-FL) slammed former FBI Director James "Jim" Comey on Thursday after he posted then deleted an Instagram photo of seashells arranged to show the numbers "86 47."
"Disgusting, completely unacceptable, and out of bounds," Donalds said. "How far are the radicals in the Deep State willing to take America? This hack needs to be INVESTIGATED IMMEDIATELY.
The "86" configuration is defined as slang "to throw out," "to get rid of," or "to refuse service to." It is also often viewed as a threat to harm or kill someone, a common analogy in the mafia.
The mob refers to the term as bringing someone "eight miles out of town" and putting them "six feet under."
Donald Trump was the 47th president of the United States.
Hence, the combinations can be interpreted as a threat to the president. Trump has already survived two assassination attempts in the last year alone.
Comey, fired by Trump in 2017 over the FBI's investigation into then Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton's private email server while secretary of state, shared the photo with the caption "Cool shell formation on my beach walk."
Afterward, Comey said he "assumed" the photograph was a political message, but that he “didn’t realize some folks associate those numbers with violence.”
Rep. Donalds, along with other Trump administration officials, disagree.
"James Comey just issued a call to action to murder the President of the United States," Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said. "As a former FBI Director and someone who spent most of his career prosecuting mobsters and gangsters, he knew exactly what he was doing and must be held accountable under the full force of the law."
