Thursday on FNC’s “Jesse Watters Primetime,” Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard had strong words for former FBI Director James Comey’s “86-47” seashell social media post, which some say implied a threat to President Donald Trump.
Comey pleaded ignorance and removed the post.
“Are you buying that the former FBI Director didn’t know what ’86 Trump’ meant?” host Jesse Watters asked.
“Absolutely not, Jesse,” Gabbard replied. “That is a ridiculous and insane statement to make, certainly within this context, but especially coming from a guy who’s the former Director of the FBI, a guy who spent most of his career prosecuting mobsters and gangsters, people who know and execute other humans and use this exact lingo of 86. Comey himself admitted in his follow-on message that he knew that this was a political statement. Well, the only reason he knew that, Jesse, was because a little over a month ago, a bunch of anti-Trump, anti-Elon Musk protesters were proliferating the use of this 86-47 slogan, which was a veiled call to action to murder the sitting President of the United States. So for Comey to think that we, the American people, are so stupid as to think that he, as a former FBI Director, former prosecutor, and someone who clearly pays attention to what’s going on, would believe his lie that he didn’t know what this actually was calling for, the dangerousness of this, Jesse, cannot be underestimated. When we have two assassination attempts on the president’s life, when we have people who look to guys like Comey, who’ve been celebrated by MSNBC and the Democrat elite and CNN as the beacon of integrity, the law and order guy, the guy who would tell the truth no matter what the consequences, this is the guy who’s issuing a hit on President Trump, the president that the American people voted for.”
“So it’s guys like Comey and others who call the president the modern-day Nazi, people who are in great positions of influence, who are saying that President Trump poses an existential threat to our country,” she continued. “These are people who hate democracy and hate the American people because they cannot stand that the people overwhelmingly chose to elect Donald Trump and send him back to the White House. So they are seeking other means to get their way and to try to remove him from that position.”
Based on past precedent, Gabbard said Comey should be “held accountable” and “put behind bars.”
“Do you believe that Comey is goading you guys to come after him because he wants to be a political martyr?” Watters asked. “He wants to be set up so he can say, oh, look, we were right. Donald Trump is a dictator. They’re coming after me. They’re arresting me. They’re interrogating me. I was just using my free speech.”
“You know, whatever his intent, I will tell you that there is a guy in Georgia who was issuing threats on my life about a month ago, and he’s in jail today,” Gabbard replied. “He has been indicted with a crime, as he should have been, and he is in jail as we speak. So, whatever James Comey’s intent, he and people like him need to be held to account according to the law, which is something that he claims to have given his life for and stands by the rule of law. Fantastic. The rule of law says people like him, who issue direct threats against the president of the United States, essentially issuing a call to assassinate him, must be held accountable under the law.
“Do you believe Comey should be in jail?” Watters asked.
“I do,” she said. “Any other person with the position of influence that he has, people who take very seriously what a guy of his stature, his experience, and what the propaganda media has built him up to be, I’m very concerned for the president’s life. We’ve already seen assassination attempts. I’m very concerned for his life, and James Comey, in my view, should be held accountable and put behind bars for this.”
(h/t RCP Video)
Follow Jeff Poor on X @jeff_poor
