Trump Calls Comey a “Dirty Police Officer”

In a recent social media post, Donald Trump referred to former FBI director James Comey as a “dirty police officer,” suggesting that the Secret Service should look into the matter, which some interpreted as an indirect call for assassination.

This development follows a now-deleted Instagram post from Comey, where he shared an image that depicted the phrase “86 47.” The “86” is often associated with the slang term for “kill,” and an assertion was made that it was a reference to Trump, who served as the 47th president.

Trump, during an interview with Fox News on Friday, stated, “He knew exactly what that meant. It means assassination, and it’s loud and clear. He wasn’t very capable now, but he was well equipped to know what it meant.”

He added that Comey was effectively asking for the president to be assassinated.

In response, Comey explained on Instagram that he had posted pictures from his beach walk without any intention of linking them to violence. “I didn’t realize I was linking those numbers to violence. It never happened to me, but I’m against any kind of violence, so I took down the post,” he clarified.

However, officials from the Trump administration were not convinced. Christa Noem from the Department of Homeland Security stated that the Secret Service would “respond appropriately.” Meanwhile, FBI director Kash Patel mentioned that law enforcement is collaborating with the Secret Service to provide necessary support.

Tarshi Gabbard, the National Intelligence Director, remarked that Comey had effectively issued a call for action to harm the U.S. president.

According to reports from U.S. media on Friday, the Secret Service has interviewed Comey regarding his post.

Trump has faced multiple threats, notably an assassination attempt at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania last July.

Trump and Comey have a tumultuous history; the president dismissed Comey in 2017 when the FBI was investigating alleged collusion between Trump’s aides and Russia during the previous election.

Democrats have speculated that Trump aimed to obstruct the investigation, but Trump maintains that his decision was purely based on Comey’s handling of a sensitive probe into the emails of his political rival, Hillary Clinton.