The Albert V. Bryan U.S. Courthouse in Alexandria, Virginia, USA, April 29, 2026.Ken Cedeno/Reuters
President Donald Trump reaffirmed his declaration that the expression "86" is a "mob term" signifying murder, as former FBI Director James Comey is confronted with a federal indictment concerning a social media update featuring seashells arranged to spell out "86 47."
"'86' is a gangster phrase meaning 'eliminate him.' They instruct to 86 him! '86 47' signifies 'get rid of President Trump,'" Trump penned in a social media communication Wednesday evening, prior to lambasting Comey as a "Corrupt Officer" who "is fully aware of this!"
ARCHIVE IMAGE: A combination of archive images display U.S. President Donald Trump inside the White House in Washington, DC, USA April 9, 2018 and former FBI Director James Comey on Capitol Hill in Washington, USA, June 8, 2017.Carlos Barria, Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
Comey, who faced indictment on Tuesday by a federal jury in North Carolina, made his initial appearance in court on Wednesday following self-surrendering to authorities at the courthouse located in the Eastern District of Virginia. Comey did not enter a plea.
The ex-FBI director, who was dismissed in 2017 by Trump during the president’s initial term, is charged with one count of making threats against the president and his successors, in addition to one count of transmitting a threatening message in interstate trade.
The indictment hinges on a controversy that surfaced nearly a year prior when Comey, in a now-deleted Instagram message, posted a photo displaying the digits "86 47" formed by seashells on the beach alongside the description "Cool shell formation on my beach walk."
"EIGHT MILES OFFSHORE, SIX FEET UNDER! Didn’t he also mislead the FBI concerning this??? I am sure of it!" Trump stated Wednesday evening, detailing his apparent understanding of what the eight and six represent.
FBI Director Kash Patel listens while acting Attorney General Todd Blanche announces a subsequent indictment of former FBI Director James Comey during a press conference at the Justice Department in Washington, April 28, 2026.Nathan Howard/Reuters
Merriam-Webster dictionary, which presents multiple definitions of "eighty-six," indicates that the most frequent purpose of the informal term is to depict a manner "to decline service to" or "to remove or prohibit" a customer from a dining establishment or saloon. The dictionary states it's commonly employed as a means of expressing that something has been eliminated. The American Heritage dictionary posits that the term might have originated as rhyming slang for "nix."
The origin of the president’s declaration that the word stems from the mob remains unclear. A search of screenplays from the American Film Institute's premier 10 gangster movies displays no occurrence of the phrase being utilized, in spite of Trump directing reporters to mafia films on Wednesday.
The Albert V. Bryan U.S. Courthouse in Alexandria, Virginia, USA, April 29, 2026.Ken Cedeno/Reuters
"You ever watch the films? '86 ’em' — the mobster conveys to one of his outstanding colleagues, '86 'em.' That signifies take 'em out. It’s — I perceive it as a mafia expression," he remarked.
Republican Senator Thom Tillis mentioned he carried out some investigation of his own on the expression.
"I explored the entirety of the internet yesterday, I am unable to locate a single example where the number 86 had any connection to a violent threat. So hopefully there's additional context than simply the snapshot in the sand," Tillis communicated to reporters on Wednesday. "Otherwise, I just consider it to be another instance of where we're going to rue this because we're setting a notably minimal threshold and political physics, like I've vocalized around here for years, is precisely what it is. For each action, there's an identical and opposing reaction."
Tillis then added, "perhaps there's extensive history in the employment of this word and conveying menaces. I simply cannot discover it anywhere."
The Department of Justice, in its announcement of the indictment that had been issued, conveyed that "a sensible receiver [of Comey's visual] who possesses familiarity with the circumstances would understand it as a sincere manifestation of a desire to inflict harm upon the President of the United States."
And while the president has reiterated his assertion that Comey's post was a demand for him to be eliminated, Trump seemed to equivocate when queried directly Wednesday whether he supposed his existence was imperiled.
"Likely, I am uncertain," he conveyed. "You know, contingent upon — contingent upon what I’m witnessing presently, indeed."
Sourse: abcnews.go.com