Donald Trump has accused former Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director James Comey of calling for his assassination through a photo posted on social media.
Komi posted a photo on Instagram of shells lined up in the sand to form the numbers 8647, which contain the code to kick a guest out of the bar.
He captioned the image, "Cool shell formation during my walk on the beach." Die-hard Trump supporters immediately declared it a call to assassinate the US president. The Secret Service said it had launched an investigation.
Comey said it "never occurred to him" that the numbers represented a coded threat, Index reports.
The number 86 is common slang for stopping or removing something, usually old equipment or throwing guests out of bars. The number 47, on the other hand, refers to Trump - the 47th president of the United States.
"He knew exactly what it meant. A child knows what it meant. How can you be the director of the FBI and not know what it means? It means assassination. And he says that loud and clear," Trump said in an interview with Fox News from Abu Dhabi, where he was staying as part of a visit to the Middle East.
Trump also said that Comey was "so badly shaken because people love me and they love what's happening to our country." "That's why he's calling for the assassination of the president," he said.
Comey, who was fired by Trump in 2017 during the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, deleted the post a few hours later, but it had already taken hold on social media.
He later explained that it was a political message and that it had not occurred to him to call for violence.
The number 86 was also used as a code by Republicans who called for the impeachment of Joe Biden, and they wore the inscription "8646" on their T-shirts, which is a call for the impeachment of Biden - the 46th president.
"I posted a photo of shells I saw on a walk on the beach today, which I assumed was a political message. I didn't know some people associated those numbers with violence. It never occurred to me, but I oppose violence of any kind so I removed the post," Komi wrote.
The announcement sparked a fierce reaction on the right.
"Disgraced former FBI Director James Comey just called for the assassination of President Trump," Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wrote on X.com. "DHS and the Secret Service are investigating this threat and will respond appropriately."
FBI Director Kesh Patel said his agency would provide all necessary support as part of the investigation led by the Secret Service.
Anthony Guglielmi, a spokesman for the presidential security agency, said on social media that they are investigating anything that could be perceived as a threat.
"We are aware of the former FBI director's social media posts and take rhetoric like this very seriously," he added.
Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, said she did not believe Comey's explanation that the message had no other meaning. "He just issued a call to action to assassinate the president of the United States. As a former FBI director and someone who spent much of his career pursuing mobsters and gangsters, he knew exactly what he was doing and must be held accountable to the full extent of the law," Gabbard posted on X.
She later told Fox News that Comey was "calling for an attack" on the president and that "the danger of this cannot be underestimated."
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