Tulsi Gabbard: Comey spent career prosecuting ‘mobsters,’ understood ‘dangerous’ message
Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard said on Fox News Thursday that former FBI Director James Comey knew exactly what he was doing when he used language that echoed mob-style threats.
Comey deleted an Instagram post showing the numbers “8647” after he received backlash as people accused him of subtly promoting a threat against President Donald Trump using coded language. During an appearance on “Jesse Watters: Primetime,” Gabbard dismissed Comey’s claim of ignorance over the meaning of “86 47,” especially given his long background in federal law enforcement.
“That is a ridiculous and insane statement to make, certainly within this context, but especially coming from a guy who’s the former director of the FBI. A guy who spent most of his career prosecuting mobsters and gangsters. People who know and execute other humans and use this exact lingo of 86,” Gabbard said when Watters asked if she believed Comey’s excuse that he didn’t know the numbers’ meaning.
Gabbard said Comey had already acknowledged the post was “political” in nature.
WATCH:
“Comey himself admitted in his follow-on message that he knew that this was a political statement. The only reason he knew that, Jesse, was because a little over a month ago a bunch of anti-Trump anti-Elon Musk protesters were proliferating the use of this 86 47 slogan, which was a veiled call to action to murder the sitting president of the United States,” Gabbard added. “So for Comey to think that we the American people are so stupid as to think that he as a former FBI director, former prosecutor and someone who clearly pays attention to what’s going on would believe his lie. That he did not know what this actually was calling for.”
Gabbard warned that the threat posed by such rhetoric should not be underestimated, particularly in an environment where Trump has already faced two assassination attempts.
“The dangerousness of this, Jesse, cannot be underestimated. When we have two assassination attempts on the president’s life, when we have people who look to guys like Comey, who has been celebrated by MSNBC and the Democrat elite and CNN as the beacon of integrity, the law-and-order guy. The guy who would tell the truth no matter what the consequences. This is the guy who’s issuing a hit on President Trump,” Gabbard added.
Trump survived two assassination attempts during his 2024 campaign—one at a July rally in Pennsylvania and another in September at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Fla. Law enforcement shot the Pennsylvania gunman on site and arrested the suspect in the second incident before he could act.
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem responded by saying Comey “called for the assassination” of the 47th president and added that both the Secret Service and DHS will investigate and take proper action. FBI Director Kash Patel said on X that the bureau is aware of the post and remains in contact with both the Secret Service and Director Sean Curran.
Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.