Retired FBI director James Comey posted a photo of a seashell today, May 16, 2025, and some have interpreted it as a death threat to President Donald Trump. The post was a picture of seashells which read: 8647. Although Comey worked as the director of the FBI, he claimed to have no knowledge that the number 86 commonly means “to get rid of” and more recently the numbers have begun meaning “to kill.”  Speculators believe that the number 47 refers to Donald Trump, as he is the 47th president.

Comey almost immediately took down the post and claimed to have no knowledge of what the numbers meant. He stated, “I didn’t realise some folks associate those numbers with violence. It never occurred to me, but I oppose violence of any kind so I took the post down.”

Although Comey claims not to have meant anything by the message, Trump thinks otherwise. He shared his opinion, saying: “That meant assassination, and it says it loud and clear. Now, he wasn’t very competent, but he was competent enough to know what that meant.”

President Trump is currently being placed under strict security in order to block any potential assassination attempts. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said: “Disgraced former FBI Director James Comey just called for the assassination of Trump.” White House Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino posted on X, accusing Comey of, “a plea to bad actors/terrorists to assassinate the POTUS while traveling internationally,” referring to Trump’s current tour of the Middle East.

While it is not currently clear if Comey truly meant anything by the post, actions are definitely being made to prevent any potential threat.