FBI Director Kash Patel said former FBI director James Comey’s “86 47” social media post forced him to deflect agents to investigate “imitations” of potential threats to President Donald Trump.
A department official told Fox News Digital that “we need to focus on public safety rather than cleaning up political stunts.”
Patel sat down for an interview with Fox News’ Brett Baier and revealed that the FBI must investigate “imitation” for Comey’s “beachside venture.”
FBI Director Kash Patel said that as a result of a social media post by former FBI Director James Comey, he was forced to deflect agents to investigate “imitations” of potential threats to President Donald Trump. (Reuters|Getty)
Former FBI Director James Comey meets Secret Service after the controversial ’86 47′ Post
“Do you know how many agents have had to chase offline after child sex predators, fentanyl traffickers and terrorists? Patel said.
“That’s something I have to deal with every day. It was something that I had to separate my agents and analysts because I thought it was fun for him to come out there and make political statements,” he continued.
An FBI official told Fox News Digital that they could not disclose the number of “copied” cases from the ongoing investigation, but described the number of Fox News Digital as “important.”
Comey met with a Washington Secret Service representative this month, and two sources explained at the meeting told Fox News for an interview about his “86 47” Instagram post.
Comey is currently investigating a now-deleted Instagram post showing shells lined up on the beach to read “86 47.”
“A cool shell formation on my beach walk,” he wrote alongside the post.
Some interpreted the post as meaning “86.”
(Fox News | James Comedy/Instagram)
Trump addressed Comey’s “8647”: “He knew exactly what it meant.”
“What people need to understand is that all copycat threats force the FBI to divert time, agents and resources. Resources to save lives and take criminals and deadly drugs from our city,” an FBI official told Fox News Digital. “This kind of confusion is normalized by those who know better, and the overseer reminds lawmakers that they should focus on public safety rather than after political stunts, especially in places where they defended Comey in places like California and New York.”
Comey provided an explanation of the post after receiving social media backlash.
“I posted some photos of some shells I saw on my beach walk before, and I thought this was a political message,” a later post from Comey said. “I didn’t realize that some people were linking those numbers to violence. It never happened to me, but I stolen the post because I’m against any kind of violence.”
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The president refused to accept Comey’s explanation in another May interview with Baier.
“He knew exactly what it meant. The kids know what it meant,” Trump told Byer. “If you’re the FBI director and you don’t know what that means, it means “assassination,” and it’s loud and clear. ”
Brooksingman is a political correspondent and reporter for Fox News Digital, Fox News Channel and Fox Business.
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