Comeys

Following her termination as a federal prosecutor, Maurene Comey called on her colleagues to condemn ‘abuses of power’.

Maurene Comey — the daughter of James Comey, the former director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) — has condemned President Donald Trump shortly after being fired from her role as a federal prosecutor in the United States.

In a memo to colleagues obtained by The Associated Press on Thursday, Comey wrote that, if a “career prosecutor can be fired without reason, fear may seep into the decisions of those who remain”.

“Do not let that happen,” she said. “Fear is the tool of a tyrant, wielded to suppress independent thought.”

The memo came one day after Comey was let go from her role as an assistant US attorney in New York for the Department of Justice.

The Trump administration has not yet provided a reason for Comey’s firing. But her position had long been seen as vulnerable due to her association with her father, who oversaw an investigation into alleged collusion between Trump’s campaign and Russia during the 2016 presidential race.

The elder Comey was fired by Trump early in his first term, but the former FBI director has remained the subject of the president’s ire.

In congressional testimonies as well as a 2018 book, James Comey has decried Trump’s “unethical” and mafia-like approach to leadership. He has also argued that Trump’s decision to fire him was an effort to undermine the Russia investigation.

Since taking office for his second term, Trump and his allies have sought to purge Department of Justice employees involved in cases he disagreed with.

They include prosecutors who worked on special counsel Jack Smith’s prosecutions, as he pursued two federal criminal indictments against Trump: one for withholding classified documents while out of office and the other for attempting to subvert the 2020 election.

Both cases were dropped when Trump was re-elected in November 2024. It is against the Justice Department’s policies to prosecute a sitting president.

The Associated Press reported earlier this month that more career prosecutors, as well as support staff, involved in Smith’s indictment had their jobs terminated.

Critics argue that the Trump administration’s decision to fire such employees has eroded the Justice Department’s independence. Many also point out that career civil servants do not choose their cases and instead serve under whichever presidential administration is in office, regardless of politics.

In her message to colleagues, Maurene Comey urged her fellow prosecutors to use their current predicament to fight even more zealously for the fair and impartial rule of law.

“Instead of fear,” she wrote, “let this moment fuel the fire that already burns at the heart of this place.”

“A fire of righteous indignation at abuses of power. Of commitment to seek justice for victims. Of dedication to truth above all else.”

Veteran lawyer

Prior to her firing, Maurene Comey had been a veteran lawyer for the Southern District of New York, often considered one of the top prosecution offices in the country.

She had most recently prosecuted Sean “Diddy” Combs, in a case that saw the music producer found guilty on charges of transportation for the purposes of prostitution, but acquitted on charges of racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking.

She had previously worked on the successful prosecution of Ghislaine Maxwell on sex-trafficking charges connected to financier Jeffrey Epstein’s sexual abuse of underage girls.

The firing comes as Attorney General Pam Bondi faces criticism from segments of Trump’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) base for not releasing more evidence related to Epstein, including a full accounting of his alleged “client list”.

Epstein died by suicide in a Manhattan detention centre in 2019.

Some influential right-wing internet personalities, including Laura Loomer, have attacked Bondi and also called for Comey’s firing.

In addition, US media outlets have reported that the Trump administration is currently investigating James Comey and former director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) John Brennan for their probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

At the time, the US intelligence community concluded that Russia did seek to meddle in the election, but that there was not enough evidence to support the claim that the Trump campaign sought to collude with Russian agents.

Further details of the reported probe into Comey and Brennan have not emerged.

WASHINGTON — Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Thursday that federal law enforcement is investigating a social media post made by former FBI Director James Comey that she and other Republicans suggest is a call for violence against President 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 “86 47.”

Numerous Trump administration officials, including Noem, said Comey was advocating for the assassination of Trump, the 47th president. “DHS and Secret Service is investigating this threat and will respond appropriately,” Noem wrote.

Merriam-Webster, the dictionary used by the Associated Press, says 86 is slang meaning “to throw out,” “to get rid of” or “to refuse service to.” It notes: “Among the most recent 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 some shells I saw today on a beach walk, which I assumed were a political message. I didn’t realize some 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 said he was aware of the post and was conferring with the Secret Service and its director.

James Blair, White House deputy chief of staff for legislative, political and public 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 2013-17, was fired by Trump during the president’s first term amid the bureau’s probe into allegations of ties between Russian officials and Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. Comey wrote about his career in the bestselling memoir “A Higher Loyalty.”

He is now a crime fiction writer and is promoting his latest book, “FDR Drive,” which is being released Tuesday.

A social media post has dragged former FBI director James Comey into a maelstrom of accusations from critics that he called for the assassination of United States President Donald Trump.

Comey, a fierce Trump critic, denied in a statement that the photo he took and shared on Instagram was a call for violence, adding that “I oppose violence of any kind.” He has since taken down the photo in question.

His rebuttal has, however, done little to calm Trump’s supporters, with the country’s Homeland Security Department and the Secret Service announcing on Thursday that they were investigating the incident.

Here’s a breakdown of what happened:

What did Comey Post?

Comey shared an Instagram photo on Thursday showing seashells on a beach arranged in the numbers “86 47”.

“Cool shell formation on my beach walk,” his caption read.

Critics were quick to point out that the number “86” refers to old US slang that refers to “getting rid of” something, or “removing something”. The slang was highly in use in restaurants back in the 1930s, and usually signalled to waiters and customers that an item on a menu was sold out and could not be provided.

The “47”, they claim, refers to Trump’s current term in office as the 47th president of the US.

Comey, on the same day, took the photo down. In a separate Instagram post, the former intelligence boss explained that he took the photo while “on a beach walk, which I assumed were a political message”.

“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,” he said.

The hashtag #8647 has previously, and as early as March, appeared on social media sites like TikTok among posters criticising Trump and calling for his removal. It has come to represent a silent code for opposing the president.

What have Trump’s allies said?

Trump’s supporters on social media channels have denounced Comey’s post, calling it a call for the president’s “assassination”.

Just James Comey causally calling for my dad to be murdered.

This is who the Dem-Media worships. Demented!!!! pic.twitter.com/4LUK6crHAT

— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) May 15, 2025

President Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr on Thursday said in an X post that Comey had “casually called for my dad to be murdered”, adding that the post was “demented”.

Grok, a conversational AI assistant on the Elon Musk-owned social media site, responding to comments from X users asking for clarification on the meaning of the numbers, said it was “basically a sneaky way of saying “get rid of Trump”. However, the assistant also added that the numbers do not “inherently mean assassinate Trump” but rather they imply “political removal”.

Speaking on Fox News, National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard said she did not accept that Comey was unaware of the violent interpretation of “86 47”. Gabbard said Comey “should be held accountable and put behind bars for this”.

Republican Congressman Andy Ogles said he sent a letter to US intelligence agencies calling for an investigation into Comey’s “disturbing” post to see if the former intelligence boss had violated two federal laws – threatening the president and interstate sharing of threatening communication.

Ogles also demanded confirmation on whether Comey still has access to classified material because of his previous role as FBI director.

“If Comey broke the law, he shouldn’t get a pass. He should be in handcuffs,” Ogles wrote on X.

Meanwhile, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in an X post said the matter was already being investigated by US intelligence authorities.

“Disgraced former FBI Director James Comey just called for the assassination of @POTUS Trump. DHS and Secret Service is investigating this threat and will respond appropriately,” she posted.

FBI Director Kash Patel confirmed on X that his agency will aid the investigation and “provide all necessary support”.

White House Deputy Chief of Staff James Blair said Comey’s post was a call to “terrorists & hostile regimes to kill the President of the United States as he travels in the Middle East”.

“Any Democrat or Media Outlet who fails to condemn this clear Incitement of Violence is complicit and must be described as such.”

What is Comey and Trump’s past relationship?

Comey was appointed by former President Barack Obama. Before the 2016 election, Comey investigated Hillary Clinton’s use of private email servers during her time as secretary of state. Many Democrats argue that this investigation, on the eve of the vote, cost her the election, in which Clinton was the party’s nominee against Trump.

But Comey also led the FBI’s investigation into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential elections, and was fired in 2017 by Trump early in his first term in office.

Comey had testified to Congress that Russia did interfere in the 2016 elections. The administration’s official reason for firing him was that Comey was “ineffective”, referring to dissatisfaction with the Clinton investigation, which eventually ended without the politician being charged.

The major sticking point between Trump and Comey, according to analysts, was Comey’s focus on the Russia issue and his refusal to state in public that Trump and his Trump Organisation were not personally being investigated.

Comey began vocally criticising Trump following his dismissal, calling him “morally unfit” to be president and a threat to the norms of democracy in his 2018 memoir, A Higher Loyalty.

May 16 (UPI) — Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced Thursday night that DHS and the Secret Service are investigating a since-deleted picture former FBI Director James Comey published online as a threat targeting President Donald Trump.

“Disgraced former FBI Director James Comey just called for the assassination of @POTUS Trump,” she said online. “DHS and Secret Service is investigating this threat and will respond appropriately.”

Comey had published the now-deleted photo to Instagram. It showed shells on a beach arranged to form the numerals “86 47.”

“Cool shell formation on my beach walk,” Comey had written in the caption.

The number 86 is widely used code in restaurants and the hospitality industry meaning an item is either sold out, no longer available or should be removed from a dish. The Merriam-Webster dictionary says it is slag meaning to eject, dismiss or remove.

The number 47 suggests Trump, who is the 47th president of the United States.

The president’s eldest child, Donald Trump Jr., published a screenshot of the deleted post to his X account, describing the image as “James Comey casually calling for my dad to be murdered.”

In a follow-up post on Instagram, Comey explained that he had assumed the shells conveyed a political statement but not one suggesting violence.

“I posted earlier a picture of some shells I saw today on a beach walk, which I assumed were a political message. I didn’t realize some folks associate those numbers with violence,” he said. “It never occurred to me but I oppose violence of any kind so I took the post down.”

FBI Director Kash Patel said in a statement that the FBI is aware of the post “directed at President Trump” and is in contact with the Secret Service.

“Primary jurisdiction is with SS on these matters and we, the FBI, will provide all necessary support,” he said.

UPI has contacted the Secret Service for comment.

Tulsi Gabbard, director of National Intelligence, also described the image on X as Comey issuing “a call to action to murder the President of the United States.”

In an interview with Fox News, Gabbard said Comey should be jailed for it.

“I’m very concerned for the president’s life,” she said. “And James Comey, in my view, should be held accountable and put behind bars for this.”

Comey served as director of the FBI from 2013 until he was fired by Trump during his first term in 2017, during which his office investigated Russian interference into the 2016 election and Hillary Clinton‘s use of a private email server while she was secretary of state.