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Ted Cruz Has Some Thoughts on James Comey's Shell Picture

Jeremy Frankel
Jeremy Frankel  |  May 16, 2025 1:20 PM

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-TX, said Thursday that former FBI Director James Comey was a major figure in the deep state effort to undermine President Trump.

Cruz cited and criticized Comey's actions during Trump's first term and his social media post yesterday. He referenced his book, “Justice Corrupted: How the Left Weaponized Our Legal System,” as well to support his statements.

“James Comey was a bad head of the FBI. He wanted to be J. Edgar Hoover. When Donald Trump came in, he waged war against President Trump from the very first day. James Comey was Exhibit A of the deep state, actively trying to undermine the president, to overthrow the president. They were angry at the American people for electing him,” Cruz told Newsmax.

Cruz also believes Trump regrets not firing Comey on the day he was sworn in for his first term.

“I think the president would tell you it was a mistake that he did not fire James Comey on Jan. 20, 2017. I think history would have been very different if Comey had been relieved of duty the very first day of the Trump presidency,” Cruz said.

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Comey recently took to Instagram to post a photo featuring seashells arranged to form the number “8647,” which may seem like a hidden threat against Trump.

“86” is slang for “eliminate” and 47 refers to Trump being the 47th president.

“We'll have to examine the full details in the context in which it was given. But there's no doubt that much of the deep state, including James Comey, hated Donald Trump, and they acted to undermine him,” Cruz said regarding the Instagram post

However, Cruz continued, “[T]he extreme rhetoric we see from the left contributes to this atmosphere of violence.”

While Comey has denied any malicious intent, saying he didn’t know about the connotation and opposes violence, both the Secret Service and DHS are investigating the post.