Secret Service probing Comey's deleted social media post: 'Just called for assassination'

MAGA allies weren't the only ones melting down Thursday afternoon over former FBI Director Jim Comey's beach photo referencing President Donald Trump.

Comey took to Instagram to share a photo of shells on a sandy beach arranged to spell out "86 47." He captioned the photo, "Cool shell formation on my beach walk."

The number 86 has a long history of being used as slang or military shorthand. In the U.S. military, Article 86 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice refers to being absent without leave. But the number is also widely used as slang for nix or eliminate.

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Comey has been an outspoken critic of Trump, once saying he saw Trump as "morally unfit" to serve as commander-in-chief. He later deleted the photo and issued a statement on Instagram saying, "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 some folks associated those numbers with violence. It never occurred to me but I oppose violence of any kind so I took the post down."

MAGA allies, including Donald Trump Jr. and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), took issue with the photo and accused Comey of calling for Trump to be assassinated.

Greene railed on X, "How many times are Democrats going to try to assassinate President Trump???"

Trump Jr. wrote on X, "Just James Comey causally calling for my dad to be murdered. This is who the Dem-Media worships. Demented!!!!"

Joining that chorus: Kristi Noem, the head of the Department of Homeland Security, and Taylor Budowich, deputy chief of staff for the White House.

"Disgraced former FBI Director James Comey just called for the assassination of @POTUS Trump," Noem wrote on X. "DHS and Secret Service is investigating this threat and will respond appropriately."

A spokesperson for the Secret Service, which is part of Noem's department, told NBC News the agency "vigorously investigates anything that can be taken as a potential threat against our protectees."

“We are aware of the social media posts by the former FBI director and we take rhetoric like this very seriously. Beyond that, we do not comment on protective intelligence matters," Anthony Guglielmi, the agency's chief of communications said in a statement.

Budowich said Comey put out “what can clearly be interpreted as a hit on the sitting president of the United States.

“This is deeply concerning to all of us and is being taken seriously,” Budowich wrote on X.