An Air Force veteran and congressional candidate is defiantly selling merchandise emblazoned with the numbers '8647' after the Justice Department indicted former FBI Director James Comey for posting a photo featuring the same digits. Mark Davis, an unaffiliated candidate for Florida's 16th district, drives a car with an '8647' license plate, wears an '86 47' hat, and sells hats and T-shirts with the numbers on his campaign website.
The numbers have become a rallying cry for opponents of President Donald Trump: '86' is slang for getting rid of something, while '47' refers to Trump as the 47th president. Comey was indicted for posting an Instagram photo of seashells arranged as '86 47', which the Justice Department deemed a threat against the president.
Davis told NBC News: 'Arrest us all. I dare you. I am done staying quiet.' He has used '86 47' to express his disdain for Trump since launching his House campaign last year. After Comey's indictment, Davis posted a photo of himself wearing an '86 47' hat and posing with his license plate, writing on Instagram: 'Thanks a lot DOJ… You just made this a little awkward.'
Davis plans to wear his merchandise daily until the election. He dismissed the interpretation of '86' as a mob term for 'kill', calling it 'a restaurant term'. The merchandise is widely available online, with hundreds of T-shirts on Amazon and items on Redbubble and Etsy.
Comey was first indicted last year on charges of lying to Congress, which were later dismissed. He has denied any violent intent behind the Instagram post.
