Prosecution of James Comey Shaken After Trump Team Consulted Mobster Sammy "The Bull" Gravano on "86 47" Post
Key Takeaways
- •Prosecutors consulted Sammy "The Bull" Gravano, the former Gambino crime family underboss, for his opinion on whether the slang term "86" could signify killing in the context of Comey's social media post.
- •Gravano acknowledged that "86" could refer to killing but would not confirm that meaning applied specifically to Comey's Instagram post.
- •Comey's legal team argued in a court filing that there is no recorded evidence of mafia members using the term "86" to refer to murder, calling the prosecution's central allegation unsupported.
- •The phrase "86 47" is widely understood in American vernacular as slang for getting rid of something, with "47" commonly interpreted as a reference to Trump as the 47th president.
- •Former DNC Chairman Joe Crowley and former Republican Senator Jeff Flake both criticized the prosecution as selective, vindictive, and lacking credibility.
New details surrounding President Donald Trump's push to prosecute former FBI Director James Comey drew stunned reactions from a CNN panel on Wednesday.
Katelyn Polantz, CNN's senior legal correspondent, reported on "The Arena" that prosecutors working on behalf of the Trump administration sought testimony from notorious former mobster Sammy "The Bull" Gravano. Gravano, the former underboss of the Gambino crime family who became a government witness and helped convict John Gotti in 1992, was asked whether the "86 47" image Comey shared on Instagram could constitute a threat against the president's life. Gravano told prosecutors that the term "86" "could" refer to killing, according to Polantz, but he declined to confirm that it carried that meaning in the specific context of Comey's post.
Comey's legal team seized on the disclosure in a new court filing. John Gleason, a former judge, wrote: "If it weren't made in the context of seeking to deprive a man of his liberty, it would be laughable. I have never come into contact with a single recorded conversation where a mafia member uses 86 in any way, shape or form, let alone to refer to killing or murder. There is literally no support for the central allegation on which the case rests."
The term "86" is widely understood in American vernacular as slang for getting rid of or cancelling something, though its origins and precise meaning have been debated. The number "47" is commonly interpreted as a reference to Trump as the 47th president.
The prosecution effort is the latest chapter in a years-long feud between Trump and Comey that dates to Comey's dismissal, which Trump publicly tied to the FBI's Russia investigation. The revelation that prosecutors turned to a former Mafia hitman for linguistic analysis drew sharp criticism from multiple panelists. Former DNC Chairman Joe Crowley called the development "ridiculous."
"To me, it's selective. It's vindictive in terms of this prosecution," Crowley said. "No one believes that Comey in any way, shape or form ever had any intention of causing violence to the president. And it just, to me, is ridiculous."
Former Republican Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona expressed similar astonishment.
"They're just looking for something to go after James Comey for, and this happened to be it," Flake said.
James Comey served as director of the FBI from 2013 until his dismissal by Trump in May 2017. His Instagram post featuring the "86 47" arrangement of seashells became the basis for the prosecution effort.