Comey’s ’86’ Post: Indictment & Definition Debate

James Comey faces indictment over an Instagram '86' seashell post, interpreted by DoJ as a threat to kill the President. Debate centers on '86' meaning: DoJ argues 'to kill,' while dictionaries and experts cite 'remove' or 'reject service' as more common.

Merriam-Webster notes, “Amongst one of the most current senses adopted is a rational expansion of the previous ones, with the significance of ‘to kill.’ We do not enter this feeling, as a result of its family member recency and sparseness of use.”.

Trump’s Claim & Legal Repercussions

After the indictment, Trump commented on April 29, “If any person understands anything about crime, they know 86. … It’s a mob term for kill him. You know, you ever see the films? ’86’ the mobster states to one of his wonderful partners. ’86 him.’ That suggests kill him. … Individuals consider it as something involving disappearing, but the crowd utilizes that term to say when they wish to kill somebody, they claim, ’86 the boy of a weapon.'”.

And below’s why,” CNN legal expert Elie Honig said on April 28. “The regulation that Justice Division district attorneys have actually chosen to bill right here calls for an intent to kill or literally harm the president of the United States.

Yes, there have actually been instances in pop culture and somewhere else where people have utilized 86 to indicate kill, however there have been plenty of other instances, evidently much more instances where it just indicates to remove or to cross off a checklist,” Honig claimed. In order to convict Comey, he stated, “the Justice Division will certainly have to show that his teenage picture was a ‘real threat'” according to the legislation.

Comey’s Explanation of His Post

“I uploaded earlier a picture of some shells I saw today on a beach stroll, which I thought were a political message,” Comey composed in a new Instagram message on May 15, 2025. “I really did not understand some people associate those numbers with violence. It never occurred to me however I oppose violence of any kind of kind so I took the message down.”

The Evolving Meanings of ’86’

When the conflict over Comey’s message first appeared in 2014, Jesse Sheidlower, adjunct aide teacher in Columbia College’s writing program and formerly editor at big for the Oxford English Thesaurus, told the Associated Press, “The original feeling is, we run out a product. But there are a bunch of evident symbolic extensions for this. 86 is something that’s not there, something that should not be there like an unwanted client. It’s a verb, suggesting to throw someone out. These are rather obvious and clear semantic advancement from the idea of running out something.”.

“In the 1950s the word undertook some useful change, and began to be utilized as a verb,” Merriam-Webster claims. “The preliminary meaning as a verb was ‘to reject to serve a consumer,’ and later on took on the slightly extended meaning of ‘to eliminate; to throw out.’ Words was particularly utilized in reference to refusing additional bar service to inebriates.”.

“Threatening the life of the head of state of the United States will never ever be endured by the Division of Justice,” acting Attorney General Todd Blanche claimed at a press conference announcing the indictment.

The Oxford English Thesaurus also claims of the united state jargon term, “In bars and restaurants, an expression suggesting that the supply of a thing is tired, or that a client is not to be offered.” The OED does not include an interpretation significance “to eliminate.”.

A government charge versus former FBI Supervisor James Comey depends upon the definition of “86.” The Division of Justice said it indicates a risk of physical injury, while the more common dictionary meaning is to toss out or remove something.

“He understood precisely what that implied. A youngster knows what that implied,” Trump stated on Fox Information on May 16, 2025. “If you’re the FBI director, and you don’t recognize what that meant, that indicated assassination, and it claims it clear and loud.”

Legal Experts Challenge DoJ’s Case

Fox Information lawful expert Jonathan Turley created in a point of view piece that in spite of being “among Comey’s most singing and consistent doubters,” he believes the indictment is “facially unconstitutional absent some unknown brand-new truths.” In order to convict Comey, he stated, “the Justice Department will need to reveal that his teenage image was a ‘real danger'” according to the law. “It is not,” Turley created.

As we claimed, the Merriam-Webster dictionary states the term “eighty-six” is “vernacular definition ‘to toss out,’ ‘to get rid’ of, or ‘to reject service to.’ It comes from 1930s soda-counter slang definition that a product was sold out. There is varying unscientific evidence concerning why the term eighty-six was used, however one of the most usual theory is that it is rhyming jargon for nix.”.

“What does 86 mean? Yes, there have been instances in pop culture and somewhere else where individuals have made use of 86 to indicate kill, yet there have been plenty of various other circumstances, apparently much more instances where it merely means to eliminate or to cross off a list,” Honig stated.

… People think of it as something having to do with disappearing, yet the mob uses that term to say when they desire to kill someone, they claim, ’86 the son of a gun.'”.

According to the on the internet Merriam-Webster dictionary, “eighty-six” is a vernacular term most typically used to imply “to throw out,” “to eliminate” or “to reject solution to.” More lately, however, and sparsely, Merriam-Webster claims, it has actually also involved indicate “to kill.” Which’s the definition the Department of Justice relies upon.

Comey Responds to the Indictment

On April 28, Comey launched a video clip message on Substack replying to the current indictment: “Well, they’re back. This time around about a photo of seashells on a North Carolina coastline a year ago. And this won’t be the end of it. Yet absolutely nothing has altered with me. I’m still innocent. I’m still not afraid, and I still count on the independent federal judiciary. Let’s go.”.

This is the 2nd time Trump’s Justice Division has actually sought criminal charges versus Comey. In September, Comey was prosecuted on two criminal matters declaring he made an incorrect declaration to Congress in 2020 and blocked a legislative proceeding.

“Yes, it can indicate ‘to murder,'” Sheidlower informed the New york city Times in 2014. “Yet without any very details indication that that’s the intended definition, you would certainly never ever think that. The idea that Comey was suggesting this is entirely preposterous.”.

“James Comey disgracefully motivated a threat on President Trump’s life and posted it on Instagram for the globe to see,” FBI Supervisor Kash Patel stated in a press release. In the press meeting, Patel claimed the grand court was presented with the reality that “shortly after posting that hazard, he deleted that danger and then released an apology.”

John Keller, a former elderly Justice Division authorities who led a job force to prosecute violent hazards against election employees, informed the AP that he agreed the term “86” posted by Comey was “unclear– it does not always intimidate violence and the fact that it was the FBI Director uploading this honestly and infamously on a public social media sites site suggests that he really did not plan to share a danger of physical violence.”.

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A: The federal government does not offer quotes of the degree of so-called birth tourist– pregnant women pertaining to the U.S. on tourist visas in order to obtain birthright U.S. citizenship for their newborn child. One outdoors group has estimated it may be more than 20,000 births per year. Some say it’s not usual sufficient to validate overthrowing longstanding bequest citizenship policies.

The Intent to Threaten: A Legal Showdown

Blanche stated that over the last year, the Department of Justice has actually done “a remarkable quantity of examination. And how do you show intent in any case? You verify intent with witnesses, with records, with the accused himself, to the degree is proper, and that’s just how we’ll verify intent in this situation.”.

“Posting numbers make up a hazard? I just do not approve that,” Jimmy Gurulé, an University of Notre Dame law professor and former federal district attorney, informed the Washington Message. “They are going to have to prove that to a jury– past an affordable question. … I do not think they are going to be able to please that legal threshold.”.

Comey said he thought it was simply “a silly image of shells that I believed was a smart way to reveal a political perspective. I do not see it the means some individuals are still claiming it is, but again, I don’t desire any type of component of any kind of violence.

According to a two-page indictment announced on April 28, Comey “did purposefully and on purpose make a hazard to take the life of, and to inflict bodily injury upon, the President of the United States” by posting the image of the shells that “a sensible recipient that is familiar with the circumstances would interpret as a significant expression of an intent to do damage to the Head of state of the United States.”

In an interview on MSNBC on May 20, 2025, Comey insisted there was “no dark purpose on my part” which while he was sorry for the controversy around his article, “it’s hard to have remorse about something that, even in knowledge, looks to me to be totally innocent.”

Comey stated he thought it was just “a foolish image of coverings that I thought was a smart means to reveal a political viewpoint. “If you’re the FBI director, and you don’t recognize what that implied, that indicated murder, and it claims it clear and loud.”