Trump unloads on 'dirty cop' James Comey over '86 47' post explanation

WASHINGTON, DC: A criminal trial against former FBI Director James Comey has been scheduled for July 15, but President Donald Trump has already branded him a “dirty cop.”

The 79-year-old president took to his Truth Social on Saturday, May 9, to lash out at Comey, insisting that his now-notorious seashell Instagram post was a threat against him. 

Comey has been in hot water over an Instagram post that contained a photo of seashells on a beach arranged to read "86 47."

"Eighty-six" is a slang term for "get rid of," and prosecutors allege it encourages violence against Trump, the 47th president.

The former FBI director is facing two criminal charges over the post, but has denied wrongdoing and has portrayed the indictment as a retribution campaign.

Trump rips into James Comey over '86 47' explanation

“Does anybody believe this guy??? A Dirty Cop!!!" Trump wrote as a caption for a video where Comey gave an explanation about how he spotted the cryptic numbers on MSNBC.

In the video, Comey is asked how he ended up in a "political firestorm, to which he explains, “Yeah, for walking on the beach with my wife, so I don't know how we ended up here. It never occurred to me that it was any kind of controversial thing, but that's the time we live in.”

“I thought nothing more of it until I heard through her that people were saying it was some sort of a call for assassination, which is crazy, but I took it down. I don't, even if I think it's crazy, I don't want to be associated with violence of any kind,” he continued.

In a different post, Trump shared another video of Comey repeating the same explanation on Stephen Colbert’s 'The Late Show', and wrote “Pathetic.”

Trump says James Comey is 'one of the worst'

This is not the first time that the president has attacked Comey over the Instagram post. Last week, he made another attack at the former FBI director, writing: “‘86’ is a mob term for ‘kill him.’ They say 86 him! 86 47 means ‘kill President Trump,’”

“James Comey, who is a Dirty Cop, one of the worst, knows this full well! EIGHT MILES OUT, SIX FEET DOWN! Didn’t he also lie to the FBI about this??? I think so!” his post continued.

Trump had made a similar claim earlier in the Oval Office after CNN correspondent Kaitlan Collins pressed him on whether Comey’s post genuinely made him fear for his safety.

“Well if anybody knows anything about crime, they know ‘86,’” the president answered her. “You know what ‘86’ – it’s a mob term for ‘kill him.’ You know?” he said.

“You ever see the movies? ‘86 him,’ the mobster says to one of his wonderful associates. ‘86 him.’ That means kill him. I think of it as a mob term,” the president added.

When Collins pressed again on whether he sincerely believed Comey meant to encourage violence against him, he said, “Probably, I don’t know. Based on what I’m seeing out there, yeah. The people like Comey have created tremendous danger, I think, for politicians and others.”