The former director of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), James Comey, is facing accusations of issuing death threats against US President Donald Trump.
According to the Operative Information Center-OMM, citing court documents from the US Department of Justice reported by The Washington Post, a social media post by Comey featuring the numbers "8647" has been interpreted as a threat.
The incident occurred just days before the publication of Comey's memoirs. He had posted a photograph of the numbers "8647" arranged in seashells. The Department of Justice views these numbers as a coded message. It is alleged that in US slang, the expression "86" is used to mean eliminating someone, while the number "47" refers to Donald Trump's status as the 47th US President.
Formal charges were brought against Comey in April.
Court documents also include correspondence between Comey and his literary agent. When the agent remarked, "You have become a celebrity," Comey reportedly replied, "I didn't plan this, but if it helps book sales, it's not a problem for me." The prosecution presents these messages as evidence that Comey intended to exploit the attention generated by the post to boost sales of his book.
Comey's legal team maintains that the charges are politically motivated. The defense emphasizes that the number combination "8647" appears on thousands of products and argues that it could be an entirely coincidental sequence. James Comey denies all allegations brought against him.
The relationship between James Comey and Donald Trump became increasingly strained after the US President dismissed the FBI director from his post in 2017. Following that dismissal, the FBI launched an investigation into whether Trump had acted in the interests of Russia. Declassified documents indicate that the investigation examined whether Trump had knowingly or unknowingly engaged in activities that posed a threat to US national security.
