<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Former FBI Director James Comey was interviewed by the Secret Service on Friday about a social media post that Republicans insisted was a call for violence against President Donald Trump.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The interview was part of an ongoing Trump administration investigation and was expected to help authorities assess the purpose and intent of the post and whether Comey intended to communicate a threat to the president, which he has flatly denied.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Any decision on whether charges should be filed would be up to Attorney General Pam Bondi, Trump said on Friday, though there's a high bar in proving that comments or posts amount to direct threats of violence.</span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.nine.com.au/sport/afl/news-2025-adam-selwood-death-twin-brother-troy-joel-family-statement-20250517-p5m00n.html"><strong><span>Ex-AFL player Adam Selwood dies aged 41, months after twin</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem confirmed in a post on X that Comey had been interviewed and said she would "take all measures necessary to ensure the protection" of Trump.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The Secret Service is part of the Department of Homeland Security.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>An interview is a standard part of an investigation into comments perceived as potentially threatening but does not suggest that charges are being considered.</span></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/world/james-comey-former-fbi-director-interviewed-over-apparent-seashell-threat-on-trumps-life/c1aeb189-6643-41df-bd7d-80345e02152e" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>At issue is an Instagram post from Thursday in which Comey wrote "cool shell formation on my beach walk" under a picture of seashells that appeared to form the shapes for "86 47".</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Merriam-Webster, the dictionary used by The Associated Press, says 86 is slang meaning "to throw out", "to get rid of" or "to refuse service to".</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>It notes: "Among the most recent senses adopted is a logical extension of the previous ones, with the meaning of 'to kill'. We do not enter this sense, due to its relative recency and sparseness of use."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Numerous Trump administration officials, including Noem, asserted that Comey was advocating the assassination of Trump, the 47th president.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>FBI Director Kash Patel said the bureau was also supporting the investigation.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/springfield-lakes-investigation-after-woman-23-found-dead-in-queensland/8b21e9b0-48d3-400d-8d73-47c91d2b0ef2" rel="" target="" title=""><strong><span>Investigation after young mother collapses, dies in Queensland home</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Asked about it on Friday during a Fox News interview, Trump said: "He knew exactly what that meant."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"A child knows what that meant. If you're the FBI director and you don't know what that meant, that meant assassination. And it says it loud and clear."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>He deflected a question on what he thought should happen, saying the decision would be up to Bondi.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The post was deleted on Thursday not long after it was made, with Comey subsequently writing: "I posted earlier a picture of some shells I saw today on a beach walk, which I assumed were a political message.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"I didn't realise some folks associate those numbers with violence."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Trump and Comey have had a fraught dynamic dating back nearly a decade.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Comey was the FBI director when Trump took office in 2017, having been appointed by then-President Barack Obama and serving before that as a senior Justice Department official in President George W Bush's administration.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/queensland-overpass-fears-overpass-could-be-closed-for-a-year-after-wind-turbine-jam/c8cfbfd8-e1df-4db4-83b1-9ad3525426f0"><strong><span>Fears overpass could be closed for a year after wind turbine jam</span></strong></a><strong><span></span></strong></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>But the relationship was strained from the start, including after Comey resisted a request by Trump at a private dinner to pledge his personal loyalty to the president - an overture that so unnerved the FBI director that he documented it in a contemporaneous memorandum.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Trump fired Comey in May 2017 amid an FBI investigation into potential ties between Russia and Trump's presidential campaign.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>That inquiry, later taken over by special counsel Robert Mueller, would ultimately find that while Russia interfered in the 2016 election and the Trump team welcomed the help, there was insufficient evidence to prove a criminal collaboration.</span></div></div>