Comey Weighs in on Whether He Expects to Be Charged Over '86 47' Post

As we reported, former FBI Director James Comey was interviewed on MSNBC about his post with the "86 47" shell picture.

He said he thought it was a political message, but he didn't believe it had anything to do with violence. But it was "clever," and he thought it took "artistic flair."

James Comey adopts the ‘Aw-Shucks' defense —

— says he’s just an old granddad that wears sweaters and jeans who saw some shells with an "artistic flair” and wanted to take a “silly picture."

"I thought, what a clever way to express a political view."

"The shells were the same… pic.twitter.com/YckBVrmZf3
— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) May 19, 2025

Aw, he's a grandfather who wears sweaters and walks on the beach with his wife.

He said his wife told him about the "restaurant" meaning of the term — to remove things — before he posted it. So he was aware of that understanding when he posted it, yet posted it anyway.

“We stood over it and I said, ‘I think it’s some kind of political message,’ and she said, ‘’86’ when I was a server’ — she did a lot of working in restaurants – ‘meant to remove an item from the menu when you ran out of ingredients,’” Comey said. “And I said, ‘Well, to me, as a kid, it always meant to leave a place, to ditch a place.’ I said, ‘That’s really clever.’”

Not only did he talk about the "artistic flair" of the message, but he also said he didn't regret it.

But the former FBI director maintains that the post was “totally innocent” and signaled that he didn’t regret it, despite taking it down.
“I regret the distraction and the controversy around it, but again, it’s hard to have regret about something that even in hindsight looks to me to be totally innocent,” Comey said.

Not only that, but he criticized the Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, for saying he should be jailed over it.

“I hope people know enough about that particular person that they understand where it’s coming from,” Comey said. “It says something more depressing about the leadership of our current administration. And I just shrug because that’s ridiculous.”
“I don’t – I wouldn’t expect anything to come at me from the shell business.”

So the problem isn't with what he posted; the problem is with the people criticizing him for the inflammatory post. He has some gall. He wants us to think he was ignorant of a most basic understanding of the term, despite being the former FBI Director.

Notice the caption at about 13 seconds in the video above. According to the Washington Post, the mean, evil Trump administration "targets speech" by questioning him about it. It's those "pouncing" Republicans again.

Have a Seat, Director: Comey Being Interviewed by Secret Service Over '86 47' Post

Comey didn't expect anything to come of it, even though it did earn him an interview with the Secret Service, whom he termed "pros."

Unfortunately, I think Comey is correct that he won't face any consequences. But if it were possible to make his reputation worse than it was, he's managed to do that.

Editor's Note: The Deep State is working overtime to subvert President Trump's agenda and the will of the people.

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