US authorities are investigating former FBI director, James Comey, for an Instagram post that officials say contained an alleged threat against US President Donald Trump.
The post in question shows a picture of shells on a beach arranged to form the number sequence "8647," which Republicans are calling a death threat against Trump, the 47th president of the United States.
The Merriam-Webster dictionary lists "86" as an outdated expression meaning, among other things, to "dismiss" or "remove." The Washington Post newspaper said it is also a slang expression for murdering someone.
According to the New York Times, Trump opponents use these numbers on the internet and at protests.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem accused Comey, who was fired by Trump during his first term, of calling for the president's assassination.
She wrote on X that her department and the US secret service were investigating the threat and "will respond appropriately."
Comey deleted the picture and wrote in a new post that he had seen what he thought was a "political message" in the shell formation. He said he had not intended to call for violence against the president.
"I didn't realize some folks associate those numbers with violence," he wrote.
Speaking on Fox News, Trump said Comey "knew exactly what that meant."
"A child knows what that meant. If you're the FBI director and you don't know what that meant, that meant assassination," he added.
Trump fired Comey in connection with an investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 US elections. At the time, the FBI was investigating possible links between Moscow and members of Trump's campaign team.
