Ex-FBI chief investigated by Secret Service over ‘threatening’ Donald Trump in cryptic now-deleted post

A former FBI chief is being investigated by the United States Secret Service after he shared a social media post which allegedly 'threatened' President Donald Trump.

Republicans have accused James Comey of inciting violence against the 78-year-old after he posted a cryptic photo online, which was later deleted.

Trump has had an extremely busy first few months in office which has seemingly split opinion among the American people, with mixed feelings about the president's actions when it comes to the 'Liberation Day' tariffs, as well as his crackdown on immigration in the country.

Comey, who was the seventh director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from 2013 until his termination in May 2017, recently shared a picture of a seashell formation from his beach walk.

While this might seem innocent enough, the shells were arranged to spell out the numbers '8647', which again might seem nothing to be concerned about, until you realise that '86' is said to be an informal term for scrapping, rejecting or getting rid of something, while more modern definitions claim that it has been used to suggest killing.

Combined with 47, which some believed was a reference to Trump with him being the 47th President of the US, the alleged message appears to take on a whole new meaning.

Former FBI director James Comey (Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images)

In a post in X, Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said: "We vigorously investigate anything that can be taken as a potential threat against our protectees.

"We are aware of the social media posts by the former FBI Director & we take rhetoric like this very seriously. Beyond that, we do not comment on protective intelligence matters."

Comey later deleted the post and in a follow-up said that he 'assumed [the sea shells] were a political message'.

He added: "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."

The post in question (Instagram/@comey)

A number of other individuals high up in the US government were quick to condemn Comey following the post, while Donald Trump Jr suggested that the former FBI director was directly 'calling for' Trump's 'murder'.

Current FBI Director Kash Patel responded on social media, saying that the bureau was 'aware of the recent social media post by former FBI Director James Comey, directed at President Trump'.

"We are in communication with the Secret Service and Director Curran. Primary jurisdiction is with SS [Secret Service] on these matters and we, the FBI, will provide all necessary support", he added.

In 2024, Trump survived two assassination attempts.