The former FBI director was sacked in 2017, four months into Donald Trump’s first term of office. Now James Comey is at the centre of an extraordinary row about his ‘86 47’ Instagram post
When I speak to James Comey about his past battles with Donald Trump, the state of America and his new novel about free speech and its consequences, the former director of the FBI is on holiday at the beach. He is in a relaxed mood, with no reason to suspect that within hours he will be engulfed in a fresh storm.
Comey, who was sacked by Trump in his first term in dramatic circumstances, had warned before the election that the idea of Donald back in the White House “bent on retribution and destroying the system is chilling”. So I ask if he had experienced any of that retribution.
“Well, not in Trump 2.0. But with the interviews I’m doing around the launch of this book, maybe I’ll get my own executive order. We’ll see,” he says lightly. “I dealt with most of my retribution in Trump 1.0, where I was investigated repeatedly. I had the most aggressive tax audit imaginable, and they ended up owing me $347, but it cost me thousands of dollars to get to that. I went through it in Trump 1.0. I was on the enemies list before there was an enemies list. Nothing so far in 2.0, but it’s early yet.”
A few hours later, he is under investigation by the Trump administration and the Maga world is alight with calls for his arrest and jailing. This comes as a consequence of a walk on the beach and a photograph posted to Instagram — then quickly deleted — of some shells arranged to form the numbers “86 47”.
