James Comey’s controversial, now-deleted Instagram photo of seashells spelling out the numbers “86 47” only adds to a long list of social media posts from the former FBI director that have sparked a mix of both anger and — more often — a heavy dose of eye rolls.
Comey’s social media strategy has transformed from anonymous accounts he secretly kept on Twitter and Instagram in 2017 to a self-promoting approach where he’s posted newsworthy statements, cringe-worthy “dad” jokes, and amateur landscape photography not unlike the seashells on a beach that now have him in hot water with Trump and his allies.
Comey, the 6-foot-8 former Republican who has been a source of fury at times for both parties over the past decade, has also used his social media accounts to boost President Donald Trump’s Democratic opponents in the 2020 and 2024 elections, to push back against attacks from Trump and Republican critics, and as an outlet to give commentary on news events, like special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on the Trump campaign and Russia.
“So many questions,” Comey posted in March 2019, along with a photo of himself looking up at tall trees in a forest, after then-Attorney General William Barr released a cherry-picked summary of the Mueller report.
Now Comey is under investigation by the Trump administration for the post of seashells on a beach that spelled out the numbers “86 47.” The number 86 can often refer to getting rid of or tossing something out, while 47 corresponds to Trump’s current term in office as the 47th president.
The post was met with swift outrage from Trump’s allies and members of his Cabinet. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard suggested Thursday that Comey could be jailed, while Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wrote in a social media post that DHS and the Secret Service were investigating an alleged threat made against Trump by Comey. Legal and security experts say prosecuting Comey for such a post would likely be fruitless.
Comey was interviewed by the Secret Service in Washington Friday evening, according to law enforcement sources.
Trump accused Comey of insinuating a threat against him. “He knew exactly what that meant. A child knows what that meant. If you’re the FBI director and you don’t know what that meant? That meant assassination. And it says it loud and clear,” Trump said in a clip of an interview with Fox News released Friday.
In explaining why he removed the post, Comey wrote on Instagram that he had “posted earlier a picture of some shells I saw today on a beach walk, which I assumed were a political message.”
“I didn’t realize 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,” he continued.
Several people from different ends of the ideological spectrum observed that while Comey had a right to post the photo, it was the latest evidence that the former FBI director “has gotten a bit ‘weird’ in his retirement,” as Jeffrey Blehar put it in the National Review.
“This is a man who, if his Instagram is proper evidence, spends his days walking awestruck through an enchanted world,” Blehar wrote. “Nature clearly speaks to this man, which is why it’s so disappointing that, when it does, it’s always in the voice of prolix political slogans.”
When reached for comment, Comey directed CNN to his Instagram post explaining the earlier picture’s removal.
Comey’s social media alter ego
Until 2017, Comey operated in the shadows of Twitter, which is now X, and Instagram. His Twitter account was hiding in plain sight with the name Reinhold Niebuhr, after a Protestant pastor in the mid-20th century who was the subject of Comey’s college thesis.
But his accounts were discovered in March 2017 by Gizmodo’s Ashley Feinberg after he let slip at a dinner that he had secret social media accounts.
Comey responded with a tweet that set the tone for his future social media posts, posting both a link to the FBI jobs site and a meme of Will Ferrell in “Anchorman” with the caption: “ACTUALLY I’M NOT EVEN MAD. THAT’S AMAZING.”
Comey’s account then went dormant for nearly seven months, including through the period where he was fired by Trump and when he testified in a blockbuster Senate hearing the following month.
“Watching migrating white pelicans in Iowa thinking about Niebuhr’s Serenity Prayer,” he wrote two days later along with a photo of pelicans flying through the sky.
Comey began posting again in October 2017. He started with photos of scenery, including a kayaker on the Hudson River at West Point military academy and a cornfield in Iowa. “Good to be back in Iowa,” he wrote in a tweet in October 2017.
Comey confirmed that it was in fact his account the next day. “Goodbye Iowa. On the road home. Gotta get back to writing. Will try to tweet in useful ways,” he tweeted, along with a picture of himself standing in the middle of a two-lane road, looking into the distance with his arms folded.
The following month, Comey changed his Twitter account name to “@Comey.”
“Glad to be part of the Twitterverse. Grateful to Reinhold for the cover these last few years,” he wrote.
As he prepared to release a memoir in 2018 with a blistering criticism of Trump’s presidency and their interactions, he used social media to needle the president: “Lordy, this time there will be a tape. Audio book almost finished,” Comey tweeted with a photo of himself in a recording studio — referencing the swirling speculation in 2017, fueled by Trump, suggesting he had secretly recorded their conversations.
Comey continued to post frequently, including quotes about dishonesty from his former nom de plume Reinhold Niebuhr and bad jokes about gnomes.
He also defended himself against Republican criticisms in 2019 stemming from an inspector general report that found Comey broke FBI policy with his memos about meeting with Trump.
On April 1, 2019, Comey posted another photo of himself looking into the distance on a two-lane road. “I’m in. We need someone in the middle. #2020,” he wrote, with an addendum: “But could you imagine a president who used social media to make dad jokes rather than to hurl insults? Happy #AprilFools.”
Comey’s active social media persona had its detractors. Vanity Fair special correspondent Molly Jong-Fast wrote in the Bulwark in 2019 that Comey was” the most annoying good man in America” and should not be on Twitter.
“Twitter Comey is tedious and pretentious and completely, utterly, totally humorless,” she wrote. “Comey Twitter went from adorkable to unbearable awfully fast.”
Commentary on politics — and his novels
Comey – who many Democrats blame for costing Hillary Clinton the 2016 election by announcing in October 2016 he was re-opening an FBI investigation into her private email server – used his social media accounts to bolster Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in the 2020 campaign.
“Vote for your country,” he posted while wearing a Biden-Harris 2020 shirt and drinking from a Biden-Harris coffee mug.
And in the leadup to the 2024 election, Comey posted several messages supporting Vice President Kamala Harris, including a photo of her appearance with Republican former Rep. Liz Cheney and of himself wearing a Harris-Walz camo hat.
“Every American should vote country over party in 2024,” he wrote in October 2024.
On the day a Manhattan jury found Trump guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records last May, Comey reposted a tweet he sent in December 2017 of a Bible passage and river rapids: “‘But justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream’ Amos 5:24.”
After Trump won reelection, Comey posted several messages to those still working in law enforcement. In February, Comey urged his former colleagues to “fight for the rule of law – to protect your country and to keep your jobs.”
Since the 2020 election, however, much of Comey’s social media was devoted to the books he’s written since the 2018 memoir, which include several crime novels and an examination of the criminal justice system during Trump’s presidency.
The day before he posted his “86 47” seashell photo, Comey shared another shot from the beach: Of himself sitting in a lounge chair reading his new novel that’s set to be released later next week. “Prepping for release of a great beach read (next Tuesday!),” he wrote.
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