From Fox News: FBI Director Kash Patel took to social media on Tuesday to condemn a former Coast Guard officer who was arrested for allegedly threatening to assassinate President Donald Trump, which Patel claimed resulted, in part, from a “destructive” Instagram post shared earlier this year by his predecessor, former FBI director James Comey.
“This is a guy who threatened President Trump’s life using the ‘86 47’ language,” Patel said of Peter Stinson, the former Coast Guard official who was charged with making threats to kill the president. Stinson, who served from 1988 to 2021 in the Coast Guard – where he held roles as a sharpshooter and FEMA instructor – will appear in federal court for the first time on Wednesday.
Stinson appears to have made multiple, graphic threats against President Donald Trump, according to court documents, including 13 references to the “86 47” message shared in a now-deleted Instagram post by former FBI director James Comey.
Comey in May posted a photo of shells arranged in the sand with the number “86 47” on Instagram. The post, which he deleted hours later, prompted backlash, including from Trump himself, and sparked at least two interviews with the Secret Service, as Comey later detailed.
The report explains that “86” is slang that can mean “to throw out,” “to get rid of” or “to refuse service to.” “47” is for Trump, the 47th president.
Speaking directly to Fox News, Patel said on Tuesday, “When former Director Comey first pulled his destructive Instagram stunt, it forced the FBI to pull numerous agents off of critical portfolios, taking key personnel away from important initiatives protecting the American people to deal with an overwhelming number of copycats following Comey’s lead and posting threatening messages against the president of the United States.”
However, Fox News notes that Stinson, an Antifa member, had posted many of his threatening messages long before Comey’s “shell” post, including during the 2024 election season.
This is a guy who threatened President Trump’s life using the “86 47” language — the exact kind of copy cat law enforcement is now frequently dealing with after former Director Comey’s destructive Instagram debacle https://t.co/rRqqty82Yi
— FBI Director Kash Patel (@FBIDirectorKash) June 17, 2025
In response to Patel’s post, many social media users are not focused on Stinson, but are repeatedly asking why Comey wasn’t arrested.
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