James Comey posted picture of shells arranged to say ‘8647’, using common slang for kicking a customer out of a bar

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Donald Trump accused the former FBI director James Comey on Friday of calling for his assassination in a coded social media post written in seashells.

Comey’s Instagram post – a photograph of seashells on a beach arranged to spell the numbers 8647, which he captioned “Cool shell formation on my beach walk” – was used by rightwing supporters of Trump to claim that it was a call to assassinate the US president. The Secret Service said it has launched an investigation.