Harrison Fields, principal deputy White House press secretary, told Newsmax on Friday that former FBI Director James Comey "has gone reckless in his derangement" regarding a now-deleted "86 47" picture he posted on social media that has been perceived by many as a signal to harm President Donald Trump.
Comey on Thursday wrote "cool shell formation on my beach walk" under a picture of seashells that appeared to form the shapes for "86 47." Eighty-six is slang for "to throw out," "to get rid of" or "to refuse service to," according to Merriam-Webster. After deleting the post, Comey subsequently wrote, "I posted earlier a picture of some shells I saw today on a beach walk, which I assumed were a political message. 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."
Comey, a Republican, was FBI director from 2013 to 2017 before he was fired by Trump just months into his first term.
"The former FBI director cannot hide behind the old phrase too cute by half on this one," Fields told Newsmax's "American Agenda." "He was the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and he knows damn well what '86' means when it comes to law enforcement. This is not a server telling the chef [to] '86' that last meal. This is a former FBI director who has gone reckless in his derangement to what it seems to be calling for the assassination or the getting rid of the current president of the United States.
"This is not just derangement. This is abhorrent behavior, one that the administration is fully looking at because this cannot go on. This is dangerous rhetoric, the likes of which all sides of America's political system should be condemning immediately."
Fields said the Secret Service is looking into the incident and the administration will follow its lead. He questioned whether the mainstream media would be reporting this story differently if a former member of the Trump administration made a similar post regarding a Democrat president.
"Do you think the Democrats and the American media would be silent?" Fields said. "No, they would be running wall-to-wall coverage about a Republican former FBI director who is calling for the assassination, or at least harm, getting rid of the current president of the United States.
"This is the type of stuff that I'm glad Newsmax is covering because the American people are over it. This is why President Trump won in such a resounding way. This rhetoric has to end once and for all stop."
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Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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