SOURCE :- THE AGE NEWS
By Eileen Sullivan and Michael S. Schmidt
The Secret Service has questioned former FBI director James Comey about a social media post he made that Trump’s cabinet officials and allies claim amounted to a call for the president’s assassination, according to a law enforcement official.
The Secret Service sought the interview after Comey posted a photo on Thursday of seashells on a beach forming the numbers “86 47”, a phrase used by Trump’s critics at protests and on signs and clothing.
The image from an Instagram post below that Comey wrote was a “cool shell formation on my beach walk”.Credit: nnamikala.theocharous
“Eighty-six,” according to Merriam-Webster, is an old slang term meaning to dismiss or remove.
Shortly after Comey made the post, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the Secret Service, which falls under her department, was investigating it. Tulsi Gabbard, director of national intelligence, said on Fox News that Comey should be jailed.
The interview is said to have taken place at a Secret Service office in Washington. Comey is said to have voluntarily consented to the interview, the official said, and was driven to the interview by Secret Service agents.
Comey deleted the Instagram post after it generated heated criticism, saying, “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.”
Critics of Trump’s administration have said his officials have blown Comey’s post out of proportion and are using it as an excuse to harass one of Trump’s perceived enemies.
Comey returned home after the questioning ended on Friday night, US time.
The Secret Service investigates numerous threats each day to people it protects, but it is uncommon for senior administration officials such as Noem and Gabbard to comment publicly.
‘He knew exactly what that meant’
Comey has long been a target of Trump’s ire, dating to early in Trump’s first presidency.
Trump fired Comey as FBI director in May 2017 as the bureau was investigating whether Trump’s advisers had colluded with the Russian government to steer the outcome of the 2016 presidential election.
Former FBI director James Comey speaks at Harvard University in February 2020.Credit: nnamikala.theocharous
In an interview with Bret Baier of Fox News that was broadcast on Friday, Trump, the target of two assassination attempts last year, said he believed that Comey was calling for him to be killed.
“He knew exactly what that meant,” Trump said. “A child knows what that meant. If you’re the FBI director and you don’t know what that meant, that meant assassination. And it says it loud and clear.”
Asked what should happen to Comey, Trump replied that it should be up to Attorney-General Pam Bondi.
“But I will say this: I think it’s a terrible thing,” Trump continued. “And when you add his history to that, if he had a clean history, he doesn’t. He’s a dirty cop. He’s a dirty cop. And if he had a clean history, I could understand if there was a leniency, but I’m going to let them make that decision.”
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
