James Comey has threatened to kill the President of the United States. He posted to Instagram “86 47”. 86 in street jargon means to put a “hit” on someone.
James Comey is under investigation for his ‘8647’ Instagram post. What does it mean?
May 16, 20251:54 PM ET
Heard on All Things Considered
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The Trump administration is investigating former FBI Director James Comey over a social media post that some government officials and supporters of President Trump are interpreting as a threat to the president.
On Thursday, Comey shared a picture on Instagram of seashells on a beach arranged into the numbers “8647.” The caption read: “Cool shell formation on my beach walk.”
“Eighty-six” is a slang term that means “get rid of,” and Trump is the 47th (and 45th) president of the United States. According to Merriam-Webster, the most common meaning of 86 — which has its roots in the service industry — is to “throw out” or “refuse service to” a customer. The dictionary notes that the term has also come to mean “to kill.” But the dictionary says it does not include this meaning in the official entry “due to its relative recency and sparseness of use.”