Latest news with #MattGaetz
Sky News
17-05-2025
- Politics
- Sky News
James Comey: Trump says ex-FBI director's seashells post 'meant assassination'
A former FBI director has been interviewed by the US Secret Service over a social media post that Republicans say was a call for violence against President Donald Trump. James Comey, who led the FBI from 2013 until he was fired in 2017 by Mr Trump during his first term in office, shared a photo of seashells appearing to form the numbers "86 47". He captioned the Instagram post: "Cool shell formation on my beach walk." Some have interpreted the post as a threat, alleging that 86 47 means to violently remove Mr Trump from office, including by assassination. What does '86 47' mean? The number 86 can be used as a verb in the US. It commonly means "to throw somebody out of a bar for being drunk or disorderly". One recent meaning of the term is "to kill", according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, which said it had not adopted this meaning of 86 "due to its relative recency and sparseness of use". The number has previously been used in a political context by Matt Gaetz, who was President Donald Trump's pick for attorney general but withdrew from consideration following a series of sexual misconduct allegations. Mr Gaetz wrote: "We've now 86'd..." and listed political opponents he had sparred with who ended up stepping down. Meanwhile, 47 is supposedly representing Mr Trump, who is the 47th US president. Mr Comey later removed the post, saying he thought the numbers "were a political message" and that he was not aware that the numeric arrangement could be associated with violence. "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," Mr Comey said. Mr Trump rejected the former FBI director's explanation, telling Fox News: "He knew exactly what that meant. A child knows what that meant... that meant assassination." Donald Trump Jr accused Mr Comey of "casually calling for my dad to be murdered". US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem confirmed in a post on X that Mr Comey had been interviewed as part of "an ongoing investigation" but gave no indication of whether he might face further action. The Secret Service is part of the Department of Homeland Security. White House deputy chief of staff Taylor Budowich said Mr Comey had put out "what can clearly be interpreted as a hit on the sitting president of the United States". "This is deeply concerning to all of us and is being taken seriously," Mr Budowich wrote on X. Another White House official James Blair said the post was a "Clarion Call (...) to terrorists & hostile regimes to kill the President of the United States as he travels in the Middle East". Mr Trump fired Mr Comey in May 2017 for botching an investigation into 2016 democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, the White House said at the time. While Mr Comey was the director of the FBI, the agency opened an investigation into possible collusion between the Trump 2016 presidential campaign and Russia to help get Mr Trump elected.
Sky News
17-05-2025
- Politics
- Sky News
James Comey:Ex-FBI director interviewed by Secret Service over seashells post - as Trump says it was calling for his 'assassination'
A former FBI director has been interviewed by the US Secret Service over a social media post that Republicans say was a call for violence against President Donald Trump. James Comey, who led the FBI from 2013 until he was fired in 2017 by Mr Trump during his first term in office, shared a photo of seashells appearing to form the numbers "86 47". He captioned the Instagram post: "Cool shell formation on my beach walk." Some US officials have interpreted the post as a threat, alleging that 86 47 means to violently remove Mr Trump from office, including by assassination. What does '86 47' mean? The number 86 can be used as a verb in the US. It commonly means "to throw somebody out of a bar for being drunk or disorderly". One recent meaning of the term is "to kill", according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, which said it had not adopted this meaning of 86 "due to its relative recency and sparseness of use". The number has previously been used in a political context by Matt Gaetz, who was President Donald Trump's pick for attorney general but withdrew from consideration following a series of sexual misconduct allegations. Mr Gaetz wrote: "We've now 86'd..." and listed political opponents he had sparred with who ended up stepping down. Meanwhile, 47 is supposedly representing Mr Trump, who is the 47th US president. Mr Comey later removed the post, saying he thought the numbers "were a political message" and that he was not aware that the numeric arrangement could be associated with violence. "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," Mr Comey said. Mr Trump rejected the former FBI director's explanation, telling Fox News: "He knew exactly what that meant. A child knows what that meant... that meant assassination." Donald Trump Jr accused Mr Comey of "casually calling for my dad to be murdered". US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem confirmed in a post on X that Mr Comey had been interviewed as part of "an ongoing investigation" but gave no indication of whether he might face further action. The Secret Service is part of the Department of Homeland Security. White House deputy chief of staff Taylor Budowich said Mr Comey had put out "what can clearly be interpreted as a hit on the sitting president of the United States". "This is deeply concerning to all of us and is being taken seriously," Mr Budowich wrote on X. Another White House official James Blair said the post was a "Clarion Call (...) to terrorists & hostile regimes to kill the President of the United States as he travels in the Middle East". Mr Trump fired Mr Comey in May 2017 for botching an investigation into 2016 democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, the White House said at the time. While Mr Comey was the director of the FBI, the agency opened an investigation into possible collusion between the Trump 2016 presidential campaign and Russia to help get Mr Trump elected.
The Independent
16-05-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Matt Gaetz insists his use of ‘86' is ‘distinct' from Comey's ‘threat' as MAGA accused of hypocrisy over term
MAGA world erupted in fury on Thursday night over a social media post from former FBI Director James Comey, claiming that his image of seashells spelling out the numbers '8647' constituted a 'threat' on President Donald Trump's life. 'He knew exactly what that meant. A child knows what that meant…That meant 'assassination,'' Trump fumed in an interview with Fox News anchor Bret Baier on Friday. Yet, while the Trump administration is investigating Comey and members of the president's cabinet are even saying he 'should be behind bars,' many of the same people raging that this was a call for assassination had previously used the same term to refer to their political opponents – including Joe Biden. Matt Gaetz, the former GOP congressman and one-time attorney general nominee who now hosts a show on far-right network One America News, jumped aboard the outrage train over the Comey post. With Republicans and Trump officials falling over each other to express indignation over the ex-FBI director's image, Gaetz retweeted a letter from Rep. Andy Ogles 'urging an immediate joint investigation' by the FBI and Secret Service into Comey. Meanwhile, just last year, Gaetz proudly tweeted that he'd 'now 86'd' former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, former Republican National Committee chairwoman Ronna McDaniel and Sen. Mitch McConnell from their leadership posts, adding that 'better days are ahead for the Republican Party.' The Independent asked Gaetz to explain the difference between his tweet and the post Comey sent, especially as a number of people were calling him out online for hypocrisy. 'I was speaking in the past tense about things that had already happened,' Gaetz said. 'Comey was putting out a call for future action. These are distinct.' Jack Posobiec, the Pizzagate conspiracist who has become one of the most influential voices in MAGA media, has been extremely outspoken about Comey's picture of shells on the beach, claiming it was a call to action. 'The fmr director of the FBI is calling for left-wing assassins to target our president and kill him. Have no idea why he hasn't been arrested yet,' the Real America's Voice host tweeted on Thursday night. However, in 2022, Posobiec tweeted out the numbers '8646' without any other context. That code, meanwhile, has been used on anti-Biden merchandise to call for the impeachment of the former president, with many of the shirts still on sale at eBay and Amazon. Posobiec did not respond to a request for comment. Indeed, the Gaetz and Posobiec tweets – along with the MAGA t-shirts emblazoned with 8646 – prompted a number of liberals and progressives to accuse Trump world of a double standard when it came to their anger over Comey. Posting a screenshot of a social media post from Trump showing an image of Biden hogtied in a pickup truck bed, Zeteo founder Mehdi Hasan pushed back on Sen. Mike Lee's complaint that Democrats would have tried to throw Trump in prison if he tweeted '8646' a year ago. 'Trump posted a picture of Biden bound in the back of a truck, and multiple Republican and conservative allies of yours (Matt Gaetz, Jack Posobiec) posted the term 86, the latter in relation to Biden. So, sit this one out,' Hasan wrote. Damin Toell, a Brooklyn attorney known for his snarky social media feed, took specific aim at Posobiec. After former GOP Congressman Anthony D'Esposito claimed Comey was 'calling for blood' and issued a 'kill code' on the president, Toell responded with a screenshot of Posobiec's '8646' tweet and tweeted: 'IT'S A KILL CODE.' 'Jack was Navy intelligence,' he added in a separate post. 'Literally the deep state. He knew what this code means. He has no plausible deniability. He was activating terrorist cells. Arrest him.' Economist and investigative journalist James Surowiecki reacted to Federalist editor-in-chief Mollie Hemingway's assertion that Comey's post was a ' call to assassinate President Trump' by insisting that 'no one actually believes it was' before bringing up the anti-Biden merchandise that's still on the market. 'During Biden's presidency, MAGA sold '8646' t-shirts and bumper stickers and decals. No one thought that meant they were calling for Biden to be killed,' he noted, adding an eBay link to an '8646 In Distressed US Flag Anti Biden Decal Bumper Sticker' for sale. 'Are you investigating the '8646' anti-Biden T-shirts still selling on Amazon?' The Bulwark's Cathy Young asked in response to FBI Director Kash Patel's tweet declaring that he was in communication with the Secret Service about a potential investigation into Comey. Comey, who was fired by Trump in 2017 and has since become an outspoken critic of the president, claimed amid the brouhaha that there was no intent of violence in his post and subsequently deleted the picture. 'I posted a picture earlier of some shells I saw on a beach walk, which I assumed were a political message,' he wrote in a separate post. 'I didn't realize 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.' Meanwhile, according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, '86' means 'to throw out' or 'get rid of,' and it derives from a century-old slang term for 'sold out' of merchandise or food. The '47' in Comey's image is construed to mean Trump because he is now the 47th president. The use of '86' as a verb appears to have first developed at a pub in Greenwich Village, which was located at 86 Bedford St. in Manhattan. Whenever a drunken patron was tossed from the bar for poor and disorderly behavior, it was known as '86-ing' them.
Sky News
16-05-2025
- Politics
- Sky News
Former FBI director James Comey investigated for post 'threatening' Donald Trump
A former FBI director is being investigated for a social media post interpreted by US officials as a threat against President Donald Trump. James Comey, who led the bureau from 2013 until he was fired by Mr Trump in 2017, shared a photo of seashells appearing to form the number 86 47 on Instagram. He captioned the post: "Cool shell formation on my beach walk." Some US officials have interpreted the post as a threat, alleging that 86 47 means to violently remove Mr Trump from office, including by assassination. What does '86 47' mean? The number 86 can be used as a verb in the US. It commonly means "to throw somebody out of a bar for being drunk or disorderly". One recent meaning of the term is "to kill", according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, which said it had not adopted this meaning of 86 "due to its relative recency and sparseness of use". The number has previously been used in a political context by Matt Gaetz, who was President Donald Trump's pick for attorney general but resigned following a series of sexual misconduct allegations. Mr Gaetz wrote: "We've now 86'd..." and listed political opponents he had sparred with who ended up stepping down. Meanwhile, 47 is supposedly representing Mr Trump, who is the 47th US president. Mr Comey later removed the post, saying he thought the numbers "were a political message" and that he was not aware that the numeric arrangement could be associated with violence. "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," Mr Comey said. 1:08 A spokesman for the Secret Service, which is responsible for protecting the president, said they were aware of the post and the agency would "take rhetoric like this very seriously". Current FBI Director Kash Patel said the bureau was aware of the post and was conferring with the Secret Service. The Department of Homeland Security and the Secret Service are investigating the post "calling for the assassination" of Mr Trump and "will respond appropriately", Homeland Security secretary Kristi Noem said on Thursday. Donald Trump Jr. accused Mr Comey of "casually calling for my dad to be murdered". A White House deputy chief of staff, Tayor Budowich, said Mr Comey had put out "what can clearly be interpreted as a hit on the sitting president of the United States". "This is deeply concerning to all of us and is being taken seriously," Mr Budowich wrote on the social media platform X. Another White House staffer, James Blair, said the post was a "Clarion Call (...) to terrorists & hostile regimes to kill the President of the United States as he travels in the Middle East". Mr Trump fired Mr Comey in May 2017 for botching an investigation into 2016 democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, the White House said at the time. While Mr Comey was the director of the FBI, the agency opened an investigation into possible collusion between the Trump 2016 presidential campaign and Russia to help get Mr Trump elected.
The Star
14-05-2025
- Politics
- The Star
Venezuelans in El Salvador prison plead for freedom in video
FILE PHOTO: U.S. military personnel escort an alleged gang member who was deported by the U.S. along with others the U.S. alleges are members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua and the MS-13 gang to be imprisoned in the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) prison, at the El Salvador International Airport in San Luis Talpa, El Salvador April 12, 2025. Secretaria de Prensa de la Presidencia/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo (Reuters) - Venezuelans held in a high-security prison in El Salvador shouted 'freedom' and used a hand signal for help in a video published by the far-right One America News Network, a rare glimpse of the detainees since they were sent there by the U.S. in March. Matt Gaetz, a former U.S. lawmaker and ally of President Donald Trump, toured the prison with the conservative news outlet and Republican Representative Anna Paulina Luna. As part of the tour on May 9, they visited the wing of the prison holding the deported Venezuelans, who the Trump administration alleges are members of the gang Tren de Aragua, OANN said. Video footage showed dozens of men pressed up against cell bars clad in white prison-issue shorts and shirts or shirtless. The men shouted as the tour passed through but could be heard calling to be liberated and saying 'Venezuela.' The U.S. Department of Homeland Security did not comment on the video footage, and the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The cells in El Salvador's 'Terrorism Confinement Center' (CECOT) included the towering stacks of bunkbeds seen in another part of the prison commonly featured in media tours. One of the cells in the wing housing Venezuelans had a towel with a cross drawn onto it draped across the bars. Trump invoked the 1798 Alien Enemies Act on March 15 to rapidly deport alleged Venezuelan gang members. While Trump's proclamation was blocked later that day, two planes carrying Venezuelans deported under the little-used wartime statute continued on to El Salvador. Family members, many of whom deny the gang allegations, have been unable to communicate with the men, who have no access to phones, attorneys or legal venues to contest their detention. On Tuesday, they pored over the footage, looking for their loved ones. Reuters spoke with a dozen people who said they recognized their family members. Reuters could not independently verify whether the men the family members recognized were in the prison. The U.S. has not released a list of the names of the deportees. Angie Rios, a U.S. citizen, spotted her husband Jesus Rios, 22, in the video, calling out to the camera pleading for freedom in English and in Spanish. She felt a mix of emotions, she said, 'confused,desperate, angry, hopeful, frustrated.' After seeing the video she was barely able to get out of bed, she said. Maria Alejandra Falcon recognized her son, 25-year-old Yolfran Escobar, hugging the bars of his cell. 'Since I saw it I haven't stopped crying and thinking what can I do to help my son?' she said. 'It is a pain so great it feels like they are tearing out my soul.' Paola Moreno, sister of Maikel Moreno, 20, said she felt helpless seeing her brother in the cells. 'He is not a criminal, he doesn't deserve this,' she said. On a post on X, Gaetz highlighted allegations that the men were gang members. "These are the Tren de Aragua guys democrats want back in America," Gaetz said in a post accompanying a video clip. Trump nominated Gaetz to serve as his attorney general in late 2024 before taking office but Gaetz withdrew in the face of steep Senate opposition over his past conduct. He now hosts a talk show on OANN. U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem visited the prison in late March with pool reporters, later sharing a video on social media with prisoners in the backdrop that warned of the consequences of being in the U.S. without legal immigration status. (Reporting by Ted Hesson in Washington, D.C. and Kristina Cooke in San Francisco; Editing by Sonali Paul)
