Trump FBI Chief Kash Patel Says He’s Got Agents Chasing ‘Copycat Threats’ After Comey ’86 47′ Seashell Flap
Trump FBI Director Kash Patel complained to Fox News anchor Bret Baier that he’s had to divert agents to chase down “copycats” after former FBI Director James Comey posted a photo that President Donald Trump and others construed as an “assassination threat.”
Comey drew fire with an Instagram post featuring a photo of seashells spelling out the numbers “86” and “47” and the caption, “Cool shell formation on my beach walk.”
Trump promptly lashed out at Comey, and Secret Service conducted a threat interview with Comey at his house.
Patel was a guest on Wednesday night’s edition of Fox News Channel’s Special Report, during which Baier asked about the seashell incident, to which the director replied that he has taken resources away from drug interdiction and sex crimes to investigate “copycats” of the “threat”:
BAIER: Well, James Comey was just on talking about all of that — the seashells and everything. And he also talked about you.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMES COMEY, FORMER FBI DIRECTOR: Obviously, you start with the fact that the guy has literally nothing in his entire adult life that prepares him for this role. And so, that’s deeply concerning to start with.
In a way, I kind of a little bit sorry for the guy, he’s barked at the FBI nonsense for years. And now, he not only caught the car, he’s got to drive the car.
And so that is a daunting task for him. I hope he lets the career people do their jobs, but they’ve already forced out a bunch of good career people and sent a chill through the organization.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BAIER: That’s James Comey.
PATEL: If he wants to come after me, no problem. I’ve been living rent-free in that guy’s head for years, and that’s just a bonus.
Do you know how many copycats we’ve had to investigate as a result of that beachside venture from the former director?
BAIER: Is that right?
PATEL: 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 he did it?
That’s what I’m having to deal with every single day, and that’s what I’m having to pull my agents and analysts off because he thought it was funny to go out there and make a political statement.
BAIER: The “86 47”, the president said that he believed it was an assassination message.
Watch above via Fox News Channel’s Special Report.
