James Comey revealed on Monday the inspiration behind a viral post that landed the former FBI director in hot water with President Donald Trump’s supporters.
He told MSNBC host Nicole Wallace during an interview that his wife, Patrice Failor, was the one who spotted an arrangement of seashells during a walk along a beach spelling out the numbers “86” and “47”—and that she explained their meaning to him.
“We stood over it and I said, ‘I think it’s some kind of political message.’ She said, ‘86, when I was a server it meant to remove an item from the menu when you ran out of ingredients,’” Comey said. “To me, as a kid, it always meant to leave a place, to ditch a place.”
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“47” was also understood to represent Trump’s current term as 47th president of the United States.
Comey added that it was Failor’s idea to post a photo of the message, a decision that sent Trump’s White House allies into a frenzy.
“She said, ‘You should take a picture of that,’” Comey said. “And I did, I posted it on my Instagram account and thought nothing more of it.”
Many within Trump’s orbit interpreted the “86” as a threat to the president—with some even suggesting that it was a call for his assassination.
Comey strenuously denied these claims, and said he is “not afraid” of the Trump administration’s retribution.
Federal authorities were swift to investigate Comey, who deleted the post within hours and claimed it was non-violent. However the number “86″ has taken on new meaning in MAGA world in recent months, backed by Merriam-Webster which adds “among the most recent senses adopted is a logical extension of the previous ones, with the meaning of “to kill.”
“It says something more depressing about the leadership of our current administration,” Comey told MSNBC‘s Nicole Wallace of the incident.
“It’s not my first rodeo,” he continued. Comey was notably fired by Trump during his first administration in 2017. “I would hate something like this, or the audit or the investigations, to happen to someone who doesn’t have my experience because I look at it and I think, ‘There’s another one of those.’”
“I’m not afraid,” he added. “I believe in the rule of law in this country. It’s under attack, but it exists, and I’m going to stand up and speak for it. They’re wasting their time if they think they’re going to cow me, especially if they think they’re going to cow my spouse, because that ain’t happening.”
“I took it down,” Comey added. “Even if I think it’s crazy, I don’t want to be associated with violence of any kind.”
Promoting his new crime book at a Barnes & Noble in New York later on Monday, Comey said he was confused by the reaction to his post.
“It’s been a bit of a distraction, honestly,” Comey said.
Failor alerted him to the fact the post she instigated had gone viral, he added.
“Some hours later she said to me, ‘You know, people on the internet are saying you’re calling for the assassination of Donald Trump,’” Comey explained.
The former FBI director was interviewed by the Secret Service at their Washington D.C. field office on Friday.
That same day, Trump told Fox News’ Bret Baier that he didn’t believe Comey’s explanation of the photo and claimed that he knew “exactly” what he was doing.
“He knew exactly what that meant. A child knows what that meant. If you’re the FBI director and you don’t know what that meant, that meant assassination,” the president said. “He apologized because he was hit, he’s a very bad guy.”
On Monday, Comey expanded on his visit to the Secret Service.
“They gave me a ride to their headquarters, the Washington field office interviewed me,” he said. “It seems like a year ago, but it was Friday, right? I told them what I just told you. And so I, it seems like a thing that I don’t fully understand and maybe it’ll go away now.”
