Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem asserted Thursday that federal law enforcement is currently examining a social media communiqué disseminated by erstwhile FBI Director James Comey, which she and fellow Republicans interpret as a veiled incitement to violence against President Donald Trump.

Comey, in a laconic Instagram dispatch, captioned a photograph of serendipitously arranged seashells, ostensibly resembling the numerals "86 47," with the terse observation: "cool shell formation on my beach walk."

Several erstwhile Trump administration functionaries, Noem among them, alleged that Comey was actively inciting the assassination of Trump, the erstwhile POTUS. "The Department of Homeland Security and the Secret Service are currently investigating this putative threat and will, mutatis mutandis, respond in a manner commensurate with its gravity," Noem asserted.

Merriam-Webster, the de facto lexicographical authority for the Associated Press, defines the slang term "86" as encompassing meanings ranging from "discard" and "eliminate" to "refuse service"; however, it conspicuously omits the emergent and arguably logical extension of "to kill" from its current entry, citing its nascent usage and relative infrequency.

Subsequent to the deletion of the aforementioned post, Comey averred: "Earlier today, I uploaded an image depicting a selection of seashells encountered during a littoral perambulation, under the erroneous assumption that they were devoid of political subtext; it has since come to my attention that certain individuals associate the numerical configuration thereby displayed with acts of violence."

Comey's initial foray into the digital sphere ignited a conflagration of conservative umbrage, culminating in Donald Trump Jr.'s incandescent accusation that Comey was, in effect, advocating for the parricide of his father.

Kash Patel, the incumbent Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, acknowledged cognizance of the aforementioned communiqué, stating that he was in consultation with the United States Secret Service and its director to ascertain its implications.

James Blair, White House deputy chief of staff for legislative, political and public affairs, posited that the appointment was particularly exigent, coinciding as it did with President Trump's ongoing diplomatic sojourn in the Middle East.

Blair's missive on X constitutes a veritable casus belli, insidiously inciting terrorists and inimical regimes to perpetrate the ultimate act of lese-majeste against the President of the United States during his peregrinations in the Middle East, echoing, perhaps deliberately, the inflammatory rhetoric of a demagogue.

Comey, the erstwhile Director of the FBI (2013-2017), was summarily dismissed by Trump during the latter's initial presidential term, a decision precipitated by the Bureau's investigation into alleged collusion between Russian operatives and the Trump 2016 presidential campaign, a period subsequently chronicled by Comey himself in his bestselling memoir, "A Higher Loyalty."

Now ensconced as a purveyor of crime fiction, he is currently stumping for his latest opus, "FDR Drive," slated for release this Tuesday.