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FBI Director Kash Patel claimed that the bureau is overwhelmed by "copycats" after former Former FBI Director James Comey's controversial post many Republicans viewed as a threat to President Donald Trump.
“Do you know how many copycats we’ve had to investigate as a result of that beachside venture from the former director?” Patel said during an interview with FOX News Special Report host Bret Baier on Wednesday (May 28) night.
Patel claimed that there have been more threats made against Trump since Comey's May 15 Instagram post, which has led to the FBI redirecting its resources from focusing on child sex crimes and drug trafficking to investigate them.
“Do you know how many agents I’ve had to take offline from chasing down child sex predators, fentanyl traffickers, terrorists .. because everywhere across this country people are popping up on social media and think that a threat to the life of the president of the United States is a joke … and they can do it because [Comey] did it?” Patel said.
“That’s what I’m having to deal with every single day,” he added. “And that’s why I’m having to pull my agents and analysts off – because [Comey] thought it was funny to go out there and make a political statement.”
Comey delivered his first public remarks since sharing an image of seashells on a beach forming the numbers "86 47" during an appearance on MSNBC earlier this month and said he found it "hard to have regret" over a post he claims was "totally innocent" and believes it's "crazy" that it was misconstrued by others.
“I don’t know how we ended up here,” he said regarding a Secret Service probing of the incident. “It never occurred to me it was any kind of controversial thing, but that’s the time we live in.”
Comey, who was fired by Trump during his first administration in 2017 and later leaked documents of his meetings with the president, shared a photo of what was described as a "shell formation" that formed the numbers "8647" in a since-deleted post, which was condemned by Trump administration officials, Republican lawmakers and other allies to the president as "eighty-six" can informally mean "to get rid of" and 47 represents Trump's second of two non-consecutive presidential terms.
“He knew exactly what that meant. A child knows what that meant … That meant ‘assassination,’” Trump said in an interview with FOX News anchor Bret Baier that aired last Friday (May 16) evening via the New York Post.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem called the post a "threat" and confirmed that the DHS and Secret Service were investigating Comey, who wrote, "Cool shell formation on my beach walk" along with the post.
“He’s calling for the assassination of the president,” Trump said after the Comey received backlash for the Instagram post via the New York Post.
“He’s a dirty cop,” Trump added, noting that Comey's fate would ultimately be decided by U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, but suggested that he has no leniency.
Comey deleted the post, claiming he was unaware of the message when he posted it.
“I 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 folks associate those numbers with violence,” Comey wrote in a followup Instagram post.
Trump was previously targeted in two assassination attempts during his 2024 campaign, which included gunshots being fired by Thomas Matthew Crooks, who was killed seconds later, during his Butler, Pennsylvania, rally last July and later being targeted by Ryan Wesley Routh, who was arrested near the president's private golf course in Florida last September.