The FBI has been overwhelmed investigating James Comey “copycats” in the wake of his controversial “86 47” Instagram post, Director Kash Patel revealed Wednesday.
“Do you know how many copycats we’ve had to investigate as a result of that beachside venture from the former director?” Patel told Fox News “Special Report” host Bret Baier, during an interview from the bureau’s academy in Quantico, Virginia.
Patel indicated that the uptick in potential threats against President Trump since Comey’s May 15 post has been so substantial that the FBI has had to redirect significant resources – including agents focused on child sex crimes and drug trafficking – to investigate them.
“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 [Comey] did it?” the FBI chief said.
“That’s what I’m having to deal with every single day,” Patel fumed. “And that’s why I’m having to pull my agents and analysts off – because [Comey] thought it was funny to go out there and make a political statement.”
The FBI did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for details on the surge in possible threats against Trump since the former FBI director’s Instagram post.
In the since-deleted post, Comey shared an image of seashells arranged on a beach to form the numbers “86 47,” which many Republicans, including Trump, viewed as a call to assassinate the 47th president.
Comey, who was fired by Trump in May 2017 after serving as FBI director since September 2013, was interviewed by Secret Service investigators the day after the post.
The former director indicated during an interview with MSNBC last week that he doesn’t expect criminal charges or any additional action from the Trump administration over the shell post, which he viewed at the time – and still does – as “totally innocent.”