Former FBI director Comey calls controversy over Instagram post ‘a bit of a distraction'
Former FBI director James Comey gestures while speaking at Harvard University's Institute of Politics' JFK Jr. Forum in Cambridge, Mass., Feb. 24, 2020. (AP)
NEW YORK, May 20, (AP): Former FBI director James Comey says that he's still a bit bewildered over how a seemingly innocent Instagram shot of shells arranged in the sand led to allegations by Donald Trump among others that he was calling for the president's assassination and to an interview with the Secret Service.
"It's been a bit of a distraction, honestly,' Comey said with a weary laugh Monday night during an appearance at a Barnes & Noble on Manhattan's Upper West Side. Comey was promoting "FDR Drive,' a crime novel coming out this week. One of the book's themes, ironically, is weighing the potential of speech to incite others to violence. Comey, whom Trump fired in 2017 amid an FBI investigation into potential ties between Russia and Trump's first presidential campaign, explained Monday that he and his wife, Patrice, had been returning from a walk on the beach last Thursday when they came upon some shells organized in a way that resembled numbers, including "86.'
They speculated over whether it was a home address, or a political message. His wife noted that "86' in some restaurants means they had run out of an ingredient. Comey remembered it was slang for saying something was boring and should be "ditched.' "And she said, 'You should take a picture of it.' So I took a picture of it, and then we walk home and she said, 'You should really put that on Instagram. It's kind of a cool thing.' I said, 'You're right. It's a cool thing,'' he explained.
To many viewers, the numbers seemed to spell out 86 and 47. 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.'' Trump is the country's 47th president. "Some hours later she (Patrice) said to me, 'You know, people on the internet are saying you're calling for the assassination of Donald Trump," Comey explained. "And I said, 'Well, if they're saying that, I'm taking it down because I don't want any part of violence.'"
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