Did the Secret Service Surveil James Comey Without a Warrant After '86 47' Post?
The former FBI director's cringey Instagram photos are not an "exigent circumstance" that allows law enforcement to circumvent the Constitution.

In a May 2025 Instagram post, former FBI Director James Comey shared a photo of seashells on a beach arranged to spell out "86 47." It was clearly a reference to Comey's opposition to President Donald Trump—"86" being a slang term meaning "to throw out," and Trump being the 47th president.
Right away, Trump supporters took offense, accusing Comey of calling for violence against the sitting president. "Just James Comey causally [sic] calling for my dad to be murdered," Donald Trump Jr. posted on X.
"James Comey just issued a call to action to murder the President of the United States," added Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. Comey deleted the post, apologized, and was interviewed by the Secret Service.
The controversy was overblown from the very beginning. As Reason's Billy Binion noted at the time, Comey's post was well within the bounds of speech protected by the First Amendment. Even if it wasn't, the term 86 does not have an inherently violent meaning, and numerous pro-Trump commentators have used it against their own political opponents in recent years.
But it seems that a public apology and an interview were not the extent of the fallout. New reporting suggests the Secret Service surveilled Comey, possibly without a warrant, even though he clearly posed no danger to anyone.
Michael S. Schmidt and Eileen Sullivan of The New York Times reported this week that after Comey posted the image, the Secret Service had him "followed by law enforcement authorities in unmarked cars and street clothes and tracked the location of his cellphone."
In a sense, it's understandable to investigate, even when Comey is clearly no threat: Considering the Secret Service very publicly failed to prevent a shooter from nearly killing Trump last year, it makes sense for the agency to take a "better safe than sorry" approach. Just this week, the Secret Service suspended six agents without pay, as a result of that blunder.
"The Secret Service will vigorously investigate any individual, regardless of position or status, that may pose or be perceived as a threat to any of our protectees," a spokesman told the Times.
But when he made the post, Comey and his wife were on vacation in North Carolina, while Trump was in the Middle East. Comey clearly posed no immediate threat to the president.
"Typically, [an interview] would have been the extent of an investigation into someone like Mr. Comey, who has no violent history and previously led the federal government's foremost law enforcement agency," Schmidt and Sullivan add, "because there was more than enough to establish that Mr. Comey was not an imminent threat."
Instead, officials had Comey tailed from North Carolina back to his home in Washington, D.C., while at the same time, the Secret Service "was receiving information showing the location of Mr. Comey's phone while federal authorities were stationed at his home waiting for him to return."
This implies authorities had real-time access to Comey's geolocation data. Jake Laperruque, the deputy director of the Center for Democracy and Technology's Security and Surveillance Project, noted in a social media post that getting this information would involve either demanding real-time access to Comey's cell-site location information (CSLI) from his cellular provider or an app on his phone, or else the use of a "stingray," a device that mimics a cell tower so law enforcement can track a phone's movements.
"All these methods require court approval to be legal," Laperruque added, and "more scrutiny is needed here."
"To justify following Mr. Comey, the Secret Service cited 'exigent' circumstances," Schmidt and Sullivan note. "It is unclear what those exigent circumstances were."
"Exigent circumstances" are emergencies in which law enforcement may act quickly to defuse a situation without following proper procedures. If police officers hear someone inside a house calling for help, for example, courts have said they are justified in entering the home without a warrant to address the immediate threat.
"A variety of circumstances may give rise to an exigency sufficient to justify a warrantless search, including law enforcement's need to provide emergency assistance to an occupant of a home…engage in 'hot pursuit' of a fleeing suspect…or enter a burning building to put out a fire and investigate its cause," the U.S. Supreme Court wrote in Missouri v. McNeely (2013).
None of those factors apply here: Comey was on the move, but he was not "fleeing"—he was coming home from vacation. If the Secret Service really thought he warranted further scrutiny, it had plenty of time to get a warrant from a judge.
The fact that the Secret Service cited exigent circumstances implies they tracked Comey without a warrant, treating the former director of the FBI as an immediate threat when all available evidence said the opposite.
Instead, this case seems like further indication that Trump is weaponizing the federal government against his political enemies—nominally, in retaliation for being subjected to what he perceives as politically motivated investigations.
"Former CIA Director John Brennan and former FBI Director James Comey are under criminal investigation for potential wrongdoing related to the Trump–Russia probe, including allegedly making false statements to Congress," Fox News' Brooke Singman reported earlier this week.
"I think they're very dishonest people," Trump said after the news broke. "I think they're crooked as hell, and maybe they have to pay a price for that."
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Lmao.
Did James Comey commit a felony when he gave classified information to the press? Did James Comey commit purjury in congressional hearings? Why yes. Yes he did.
Sigh. (D)ifferent.
Mr. Comey, who has no violent history
He headed the FBI, so a violent history is most definitely in his book.
And the warrants that he and his org didn’t get all those times? Live by the sword...
He just pushed a lot of buttons.
The Reason creeps love it when the right people are killed.
You never complained when Republicans said they wanted Biden dead you hypocrite. Oh wait, that's not how it goes.
And there it is.
It was a joke you humorless cunt.
The same thing you post every day ad nauseum whether it is appropriate or not is suddenly a joke?
https://imgur.com/gallery/i-was-only-pretending-RO0BVXN
Cite?
Poor sarc.
No, it wasn’t. You’re not really capable of humor. Probably becasie of the ongoing alcohol induced destruction of your brain tissue.
You have literally pickled your brain.
Biden defender defends Democrats and attacks Republicans. News at 11.
Poor stupid sarcbot.
What level is below sarc level retarded. Because you just hit that.
Sullumesque?
Even if it wasn't, the term 86 does not have an inherently violent meaning, and numerous pro-Trump commentators have used it against their own political opponents in recent years.
Gotta love how this statement offers no evidence of "pro-Trump" people or "86" usage against anyone. It's just "believe me because I also hate Trump".
Hang Mike Pence! So Hath Cummander In Chief Dear Orange Leader Cummanded; so must Shit Be Done!!!
Name a prominent Republican who publicly called for Pence to be hanged
The fascist piece of shit can’t name a non-prominent one. He’s just got his slogan that he uses to justify his fascism.
It's also literally all the memes:
"Nobody is calling for anybody to be killed and, even if they were, they did it too!"
It tickles me to no end that a guy who used falsified information to get FISAs to investigate Trump had his own tools used against him.
^This.
We are at the part where the Roman Families start assassinating each other.
*pops popcorn*
Et tu Brute?
+1
"Former CIA Director John Brennan and former FBI Director James Comey are under criminal investigation for potential wrongdoing related to the Trump–Russia probe, including allegedly making false statements to Congress," Fox News' Brooke Singman reported earlier this week.
This will be another cock-tease, most likely. Brennan definitely needs to be lined up against a wall and shot, but Comey's just a tool that was doing what he was told to do by the rest of the Deep State. Ultimately, nothing will really come of it.
Unfortunately. Same as Clapper lying to Wyden.
I must have missed the article that Reason wrote decrying the killing by the FBI, under then Director James Comey, of 74 year-old Craig Robertson for speech, "well within the bounds of speech protected by the First Amendment."
Reason should be celebrating a deep state actor getting sent the message that the rules ARE for him the moment he steps out from behind Hoover's skirts.
Hey, Reason, how about you 86 Lancaster, that fucking authoritarian apologist?
So this isnt a local story... but information out about the entire Trump Russia collusion along with all the surveillance from it covering many people isnt...
Maybe they surveilled him because of the other crimes he committed.
[flips pages] My notes say that according to the FBI crime is down.
'The former FBI director's cringey Instagram photos are not an "exigent circumstance" that allows law enforcement to circumvent the Constitution.'
How about for being a traitorous asshole? And how about people get the legal treatment they gave others?
Lavrentiy Beria has been under surveillance by the NKVD! IT'S AN OUTRAGE!
anyone still have the recording of Obama's Chicago minister and his "chickens ... ... are comin' home to roost!" bit?
https://youtu.be/Vy6lFFaX0nQ?si=g-hyxUkawNXmU4ip
exactly. gracias.
The sound of the world’s tiniest violin playing.
They should have just lied to get a warrant like Comey’s peeps
Another thing for Lancaster to be wrong about.
Well Sullum is probably close to retirement and Reason has to groom a replacement to keep TDS alive. Their "friends" at The Bulwark can't do it all.
Groomers gonna groom.
Since when do you need a warrant to follow someone and observe what they do in public?
To be fair Comey's agents went to the trouble of lying to the FISA court to get warrants. Orangeman didn't even bother.