Former FBI Director James Comey discusses the meaning behind his "86 47" Instagram post with Stephen Colbert, following criticism and a Secret Service investigation.

He told MSNBC host Nicole Wallace during an interview that his wife, Patrice Failor, was the one who spotted an arrangement of seashells during a walk along a beach spelling out the numbers “86” and “47”—and that she explained their meaning to him.

NEW YORK (AP) — Former FBI director James Comey says that he’s still a bit bewildered over how a seemingly innocent Instagram shot of shells arranged in the sand led to allegations by Donald Trump among others that he was calling for the president’s assassination and to an interview with the Secret Service.

Federal law enforcement officials said on May 15 that they are investigating an Instagram post Comey made depicting an image reading “8647.”

A Fox News producer was escorted out of a James Comey book signing event Tuesday after he barged in to ask about the former FBI director’s attention-grabbing anti-Trump Instagram post.

Dan Bongino, the FBI's deputy director, condemned former FBI Director James Comey's "86 47" social media post as the FBI and Secret Service investigate potential threats.

Former FBI Director James Comey doesn’t expect the Trump administration to take any further action against him over an Instagram post some, including the president, viewed as a call to assassinate the commander in chief.

The Merriam-Webster dictionary traces “86” to “1930s soda-counter slang meaning that an item was sold out. There is varying anecdotal evidence about why the term eighty-six was used, but the most common theory is that it is rhyming slang for nix.”