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The Notorious “86 47” Motto, popularized by ex-FBI director James Comey, was prominently displayed on placards during various May Day demonstrations.
Images snapped by Fox News Digital in both New York City and Los Angeles showcased protestors brandishing signs emblazoned with “86 47.” Among these, one sign notably declared, “86 the whole regime.”
This week, Comey found himself facing a second indictment from the Justice Department. The charges seem to stem from a May 2025 Instagram post featuring an “86 47” design crafted from shells on a beach.
In the familiar lingo of service industries, “86” generally means to expel, cancel, or eliminate something. Meanwhile, Donald Trump is recognized as the 47th president.
During a May Day rally in Los Angeles, California, on Friday, May 1, 2026, an activist was spotted holding a sign with “86 47” inscribed on it. (Fox News Digital)
Comey is charged with “knowingly and willfully making a threat to take the life of, or inflict bodily harm upon, the President of the United States and knowingly and willfully transmitting a communication in interstate and foreign commerce that contained a threat to kill President Donald Trump,” according to the indictment.
Both charges, released Tuesday by the DOJ, carry up to 10 years in prison. The move follows a wave of criticism from Republicans and Trump administration officials who viewed Comey’s post as a veiled threat.
Activists participate in a May Day march in New York City, Friday, May 1, 2026. (Fox News Digital)
May Day Strong, which was the main organizer of Friday’s demonstrations, described them as “workers, students, and families” rallying, marching and taking action “across the country to demand a nation that puts workers over billionaires, with many refusing business as usual through No School. No Work. No Shopping.”
An activist carries a sign with “86 47” written on it at the May Day march in Los Angeles, Calif., on Friday, May 1, 2026. (LB for Fox News Digital)
May Day’s roots trace back to the 19th century, when Marxists, socialists and labor unions called for a day of strikes in Paris and later became a national holiday in the Soviet Union after the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution.
While May Day began as an effort to protect worker rights, the big-money political operations of labor unions today give the protest a partisan bias that is focused very much today on anti-Trump rhetoric, critics say. Approximately 600 groups with $2 billion in an active annual revenues were slated to host an estimated 6,000 events nationwide for pro-socialist May Day demonstrations on Friday, a Fox News Digital investigation found.
Comey’s May 2025 Instagram post showed the numbers “86 47” arranged in shells on a beach.
“Cool shell formation on my beach walk…,” Comey captioned the post. It was later deleted.