Trump administration officials say Secret Service is investigating Comey’s ’86 47′ social media post

WASHINGTON AP Homeland Prevention Secretary Kristi Noem noted Thursday that federal law enforcement is researching a social media post made by former FBI Director James Comey that she and other Republicans suggest is a call for violence against President Donald Trump In an Instagram post Comey wrote cool shell formation on my beach walk under a picture of seashells that appeared to form the shapes for Numerous Trump administration officers including Noem explained Comey was advocating for the assassination of Trump the th president DHS and Secret Facility is exploring this threat and will respond appropriately Noem wrote Merriam-Webster the dictionary used by The Associated Press says is slang meaning to throw out to get rid of or to refuse facility to It notes Among the majority of fresh senses adopted is a logical extension of the previous ones with the meaning of to kill We do not enter this sense due to its relative recency and sparseness of use The post has since been deleted Comey subsequently wrote I posted earlier a picture of various shells I saw currently on a beach walk which I assumed were a political message I didn t realize a few folks associate those numbers with violence It never occurred to me Comey added but I oppose violence of any kind so I took the post down Comey s original post sparked outrage among conservatives on social media with Donald Trump Jr accusing Comey of calling for his father s killing Current FBI Director Kash Patel commented he was aware of the post and was conferring with the Secret Facility and its director James Blair White House deputy chief of staff for legislative political and general affairs noted that the post came at a delicate time given that Trump is traveling in the Middle East This is a Clarion Call from Jim Comey to terrorists hostile regimes to kill the President of the United States as he travels in the Middle East Blair wrote on X Comey who was FBI director from to was fired by Trump during the president s first term amid the bureau s probe into assertions of ties between Russian bureaucrats and Trump s presidential campaign Comey wrote about his career in the best-selling memoir A Higher Loyalty He is now a crime fiction writer and is promoting his latest book FDR Drive which is being issued on Tuesday