DOJ’s shaky '86' charge against Comey exposes politicized law enforcement

The Department of Justice’s indictment of former FBI Director James Comey hinges on a single word: “86.” The DOJ claims that Comey’s Instagram post showing shells arranged as “86 47” was a coded death threat against Donald Trump, the 47th president. According to the indictment, this “86” means “to kill,” making Comey’s post a criminal threat punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

But this legal argument collapses under scrutiny. Merriam-Webster’s dictionary defines “eighty-six” primarily as slang for “to throw out,” “to get rid of,” or “to refuse service.” The “kill” meaning is a recent, rare extension and not widely recognized. The Oxford English Dictionary does not even include “kill” as a definition. Linguists and language experts call the DOJ’s interpretation a stretch, saying the term’s original and common use relates to removal or refusal, not assassination.

Comey himself said he saw the shells as a “silly picture” expressing a political viewpoint, not a threat. He quickly deleted the post once he learned some associated “86” with violence but never apologized because he insists there was no violent intent. Meanwhile, Trump and FBI Director Kash Patel have seized on the DOJ’s flimsy reading to paint Comey as a violent threat, weaponizing federal law enforcement to settle political scores.

This indictment is a glaring example of how the Trump-era DOJ politicized the justice system. Using ambiguous slang to criminalize a former FBI director’s social media post is a dangerous overreach that undermines rule of law and chills free expression. If “86” can be twisted into a death threat, what’s next? This case exposes the DOJ’s willingness to manufacture charges to intimidate political opponents, a tactic we must vigilantly resist.