Former FBI Director James Comey sparked controversy on Thursday when he shared a post on social media that many people viewed as an unsubtle coded threat against President Donald Trump.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Comey was subsequently interviewed on Friday by U.S. Secret Service agents about the purpose and intent of that post at the agency's Washington D.C. headquarters, the Daily Mail reported.

It is unclear if Comey tried to play dumb with the Secret Service about the obvious meaning underlying his post, as he tried to do with the American public amid sharp pushback and harsh criticism that prompted him to delete the message just hours after it was posted.

Comey's "86 47" message interpreted as a threat

In a since-deleted Instagram post on Thursday, former FBI Director Comey wrote "cool shell formation on my beach walk" as the caption for a photo of seashells arranged to read "86 47."

"86" is a relatively common slang term for eliminating or removing an item or individual, such as in a bar or restaurant, but it can also mean to assassinate or kill someone or something, while "47" is unmistakably a reference to President Trump, the 47th president.

Given the at least two publicly known assassination attempts against Trump less than a year ago, paired with the concerted and increasingly hyperbolic opposition and resistance to his second presidency, it was not much of a stretch in that context for Comey's post to be broadly interpreted as a threat against the president.

For his part, Comey tried to play dumb when confronted by the blowback to his post, which he deleted and then wrote in a follow-up message, "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," the former chief federal law enforcement agent turned crime novelist insisted. "It never occurred to me but I oppose violence of any kind so I took the post down."

Interviewed by the Secret Service

According to CNN, former Director Comey was not taken into custody but voluntarily made a trip to the Secret Service headquarters in D.C. to be interviewed about the social media post that many viewed as a threat against President Trump.

Per an unnamed source, Comey was likely grilled by agents on what, exactly, he meant with his post, and was likely also warned that his message could be used by others as inspiration to commit acts of violence.

"The Secret Service vigorously investigates anything that can be taken as a potential threat against our protectees," agency spokesman Anthony Guglielmi told CNN. "We are aware of the social media posts by the former FBI Director, and we take rhetoric like this very seriously. Beyond that, we do not comment on protective intelligence matters."

Trump says Comey knew "exactly" what the message meant

As for President Trump, USA Today reported that he told Fox News host Bret Baier in an interview that former FBI Director Comey knew "exactly" what the "86 47" message would be interpreted to mean, and stated, "A child knows what that meant. That meant assassination."

"He wasn't very competent, but he was competent enough to know what that meant. And he did it for a reason," Trump said of Comey, whom he fired shortly after taking office for his first term. "And when you add his history to that ... He’s a dirty cop."

Trump would not say whether Comey should be charged, prosecuted, and imprisoned for the apparent threat when asked, but instead deferred any such decisions to Attorney General Pam Bondi and the Justice Department.