The former head of the FBI was indicted because of a photo with seashells in the shape of the numbers 86 47

“This is the second criminal case that the Department of Justice has opened against a long-time Trump opponent. He has previously stated that the arrangement of seashells in the numbers 86 47, which he allegedly saw on a walk, was a political message, not a call to violence,” wrote the AP agency, stating that it received information about Comey’s accusation from its source.

She added that the exact wording of the accusation is not yet known to her.

Comey published the photo last May. There was no doubt that this was his comment on Trump, the 47th American president, who himself often uses this serial number in his marketing.

However, the interpretation of number 86 is a bit more complicated, which Comey himself may have underestimated. It follows from the Merriam-Webster dictionary that the term began to be used in the hospitality industry roughly a hundred years ago as a code for unavailable goods, and subsequently began to be used elsewhere in the sense of “getting rid of something”. Comey was questioned by the Secret Service in May and the investigation began.

The ex-FBI chief deleted the post shortly after it was published, writing: “I didn’t realize that some people were associating these numbers with violence” and “I’m against any kind of violence, so I took the post down.”