Kash Patel Slams Comey for Instagram Post Linked to Threats Against Trump

New FBI Director Kash Patel isn’t mincing words when it comes to his predecessor. On Wednesday, Patel accused former FBI head James Comey of endangering President Donald Trump with a cryptic Instagram post that sparked a spike in copycat threats.

The controversy erupted after Comey posted and then quietly deleted a beachside photo on Instagram earlier this month. The image showed seashells spelling out “86 47,” widely interpreted as a coded threat. In common slang, “86” means to eliminate or get rid of someone, and “47” is a reference to Trump becoming the 47th President.

Patel responded forcefully during an appearance on Fox News’ Special Report with Bret Baier.

“Do you know how many copycats we’ve had to investigate as a result of that beachside venture from the former director?” Patel said.
“Do you know how many agents I’ve had to take offline from chasing down child sex predators, fentanyl traffickers, terrorists... because people are popping up on social media and think that a threat to the life of the President is a joke and they can do it because he did it?”

Patel’s frustration underscores a serious problem: law enforcement resources are being diverted from critical national security threats to chase down politically motivated stunts triggered by reckless behavior from the highest levels of the previous FBI leadership.

Key points raised by Patel:

• Agents have been pulled from investigations into child predators and fentanyl traffickers due to a surge in threats.

• Multiple social media users mimicked the "86 47" symbolism after Comey’s post went viral.

• The FBI is actively investigating these threats, diverting manpower from essential operations.

Comey, who was fired by Trump in 2017, attempted to play off the post as a misunderstanding. He later claimed ignorance of the term “86,” saying he thought it simply meant “to leave” and that he and his wife found the shells arranged that way during a beach walk.

But Patel isn’t buying it.

“That’s what I’m having to deal with every single day... because he thought it was funny to go out there and make a political statement,” he said.

Earlier that day, Comey appeared on CNN to question Patel’s qualifications, saying he had “literally nothing in his adult life that prepares him” for leading the FBI. He accused the Trump administration of pushing out “good career people” and chilling the internal culture of the Bureau.

Ironically, it was Comey’s leadership and now his social media antics that appear to have put both Bureau morale and national security at risk. The former director’s partisan behavior isn’t new, but now it’s crossing into dangerous territory.

With President Trump poised to retake the White House and restore law and order, Kash Patel has made it clear: the days of rogue deep-state operators playing political games with national security are over.

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