Conservative activist Laura Loomer has accused Jeff Bezos' Amazon of selling what she calls "assassination gear" after spotting caps with the number "8647" on the platform. Loomer, a long-time Donald Trump supporter, shared screenshots of the caps on X and tagged Amazon founder Jeff Bezos in her post.
"Wow. They are selling ASSASSINATION GEAR on Amazon!" Loomer wrote on X. The image showed four different caps bearing the number "8647." While three of them appeared to be generic vintage-style designs, the fourth one had the now-controversial digits printed in the colours of the American flag.
Wow.
— Laura Loomer (@LauraLoomer) May 19, 2025
They are selling ASSASSINATION GEAR on Amazon!@JeffBezos pic.twitter.com/TPzy8FYAV0
The controversy around the numbers began when former FBI Director James Comey posted a photo on Instagram of a shell arrangement that appeared to spell out "8647." Social media users, particularly from pro-Trump circles, quickly interpreted the image as a coded message calling for Trump's elimination.
In American slang, "86" is commonly used to mean "get rid of" or "eliminate", according to Merriam-Webster. The number "47" has recently become associated with Trump, who is the 47th US president.
Critics claim the combination "8647" could be read as "get rid of 47", a perceived threat against Trump.
Amid mounting backlash, Comey later deleted the photo and issued a clarification. "I posted earlier a picture of some shells I saw today on a beach walk, which I assumed were a political message. I didn't realise some folks associate those numbers with violence. It never occurred to me, but I oppose violence of any kind, so I took the post down," he said.
Reacting to the controversy, Donald Trump dismissed Comey's explanation outright. In an interview with Fox News, Trump said, "[Comey] knew exactly what that meant. A child knows what that means. If you're the FBI director and you don't know what that meant, that meant assassination. And it says it loud and clear."
The president added, "He wasn't very competent, but he was competent enough to know what that meant. And he did it for a reason."
Trump and Comey have had a long-standing feud. Trump fired Comey in 2017 while he was leading the FBI investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Since then, Comey has publicly supported Democratic candidates, backing Joe Biden in 2020 and Kamala Harris in 2024.
Amazon is yet to respond to the controversy or remove the listed items.
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