James B. Comey, the former F.B.I. director, has long been a target of President Trump’s ire, dating to early in Mr. Trump’s first presidency.Credit…Doug Mills/The New York Times
The Secret Service questioned James B. Comey, the former F.B.I. director, on Friday about a social media post he made that Mr. Trump’s cabinet officials and allies claimed amounted to a call for Mr. Trump’s assassination, according to a law enforcement official.
The Secret Service sought the interview after Mr. Comey posted a photo on Thursday of seashells on a beach forming the numbers “86 47,” a phrase used by Mr. Trump’s critics at protests, and on signs and clothing. “Eighty-six,” according to Merriam-Webster, is an old slang term meaning to dismiss or remove.
Shortly after Mr. Comey made the post, Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, said the Secret Service, which falls under her department, was investigating it. Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, said on Fox News that Mr. Comey should be jailed.
The interview is said to have taken place at a Secret Service office in Washington. Mr. Comey is said to have voluntarily consented to the interview, the official said, and was driven to the interview by Secret Service agents.
Mr. Comey deleted the Instagram post after it generated heated criticism, saying, “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.”
Critics of Mr. Trump’s administration have said that his officials have blown Mr. Comey’s post out of proportion and are using it as an excuse to harass one of Mr. Trump’s perceived enemies. Mr. Comey returned home after the completion of the questioning on Friday night.
The Secret Service investigates multiple threats a day to people it protects, but it is uncommon for senior administration officials like Ms. Noem and Ms. Gabbard to comment publicly.
Mr. Comey has long been a target of Mr. Trump’s ire, dating to early in the first Trump presidency. Mr. Trump fired Mr. Comey as F.B.I. director in May 2017 as the bureau was investigating whether Mr. Trump’s advisers had colluded with the Russian government to steer the outcome of the 2016 presidential election.
In an interview with Bret Baier of Fox News that was broadcast on Friday, Mr. Trump — the target of two assassination attempts last year — said he believed that Mr. Comey was calling for him to be killed.
“He knew exactly what that meant,” Mr. Trump said. “A child knows what that meant. If you’re the F.B.I. director and you don’t know what that meant, that meant assassination. And it says it loud and clear.”
Asked what should happen to Mr. Comey, Mr. Trump replied that it should be up to Attorney General Pam Bondi.
“But I will say this, I think it’s a terrible thing,” Mr. Trump continued. “And when you add his history to that, if he had a clean history, he doesn’t. He’s a dirty cop, he’s a dirty cop. And if he had a clean history, I could understand if there was a leniency, but I’m going to let them make that decision.”
