Conservatives have resented former FBI Director James Comey ever since he refused to charge former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2016, despite admitting that she had been "extremely careless" in handling classified information.

Comey faced their ire again this week, with current FBI Director Kash Patel dropping the hammer on one of his recent social media posts that arguably endorsed violence against President Donald Trump. 

Comey posts controversial image

As the Daily Wire reported, Comey posted an image to his Instagram account showing a collection of seashells which had been arranged to form the numbers "86" and "47."

Trump is America's 47th president, and the number 86 is sometimes used as a slang term for eliminating or killing someone.

Just James Comey causally calling for my dad to be murdered.

This is who the Dem-Media worships. Demented!!!! pic.twitter.com/4LUK6crHAT

— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) May 15, 2025

Comey's decision to highlight the image quickly came to Patel's attention, and he responded with a social media post of his own on Thursday.

"We are aware of the recent social media post by former FBI Director James Comey, directed at President Trump," the FBI director wrote.

FBI in communication with Secret Service

"We are in communication with the Secret Service and Director Curran. Primary jurisdiction is with SS on these matters and we, the FBI, will provide all necessary support," Patel went on to add.

Tennessee Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn took notice as well, stating, "James Comey is posting cryptic messages online alluding to getting rid of President Trump."

"Would he like to explain what he means by this given the assassination attempts on President Trump?" she continued before asking Patel to review the matter.

Even longtime Trump critic Meghan McCain spoke out, remarking, "Don't know how this can be interpreted as any other way but a threat against President Trump. James Comey should at the very least get a visit from the secret service."

Comey explains

The Daily Wire noted that Comey subsequently deleted the message and put up another post in which he denied wrongdoing.

"I posted a picture earlier of some shells I saw on a beach walk, which I assumed were a political message," the former FBI director asserted.

"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 insisted.