US law enforcement officials have said they were looking into a social media post by former FBI Director James Comey depicting an image of "8647," which some Trump supporters interpreted as a threat against President Donald Trump.
Comey, who was fired by Trump in 2017, later took down the post on Thursday, saying he was unaware the apparent political message could have been associated with violence.
In US parlance the number 86 can be used as verb meaning to throw somebody out of a bar for being drunk or disorderly, and 47 is code for Trump, the 47th president.
Some Trump supporters interpreted the message as one to violently remove Trump from office, including by assassination.
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary says on its website that one recent meaning of the term was "to kill" but that it had not adopted that "due to its relative recency and sparseness of use."
The Secret Service, which is responsible for protecting the president, said it was aware of Comey's post but did not assess its meaning.
"The Secret Service vigorously investigates anything that can be taken as a potential threat against our protectees. We are aware of the social media posts by the former FBI director and we take rhetoric like this very seriously. Beyond that, we do not comment on protective intelligence matters," Secret Service spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi said in a statement.
In a forthcoming book, "A Higher Loyalty", James Comey compares US President Donald Trump to a mafia don and calls his leadership of the country "ego driven and about personal loyalty."
'Cool shell formation on my beach walk'
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, whose agency oversees the Secret Service, said on X that DHS and Secret Service were "investigating this threat and will respond appropriately."
Current FBI Director Kash Patel said on X that his agency was in communication with the Secret Service about the post and "will provide all necessary support."
Others were more explicit in assigning a malign meaning to Comey's post, with White House Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino saying it was a call to assassinate Trump.
Comey posted an Instagram photo of the number 8647 formed by seashells on the beach.
"Cool shell formation on my beach walk," Comey said.
But after the uproar from Trump supporters, Comey took the post down, saying he had assumed it was merely a "political message."
"I didn't realise 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," Comey said.
Early in his first term, in May 2017, Trump fired Comey, who as FBI director had been leading an investigation into the Trump 2016 presidential campaign's possible collusion with Russia to help Trump get elected.
