FBI Director Kash Patel took to social media on Tuesday to condemn a former Coast Guard officer who was arrested for allegedly threatening to assassinate President Donald Trump, which Patel claimed resulted, in part, from a ‘destructive’ Instagram post shared earlier this year by his predecessor, former FBI director James Comey. 

‘This is a guy who threatened President Trump’s life using the ‘86 47’ language,’ Patel said of Peter Stinson, the former Coast Guard official who was charged with making threats to kill the president. Stinson, who served from 1988 to 2021 in the Coast Guard – where he held roles as a sharpshooter and FEMA instructor – will appear in federal court for the first time on Wednesday.

Stinson appears to have made multiple, graphic threats against President Donald Trump, according to court documents, including 13 references to the ’86 47′ message shared in a now-deleted Instagram post by former FBI director James Comey. 

Comey in May posted a photo of shells arranged in the sand with the number ’86 47′ on Instagram. The post, which he deleted hours later, prompted backlash, including from Trump himself, and sparked at least two interviews with the Secret Service, as Comey later detailed.

The former FBI director has said in multiple public interviews since that he did not have any dark intentions in sharing the photo and that his wife had associated it with her time as a restaurant server to mean taking something off the menu. 

According to Merriman Webster, ’86’ is slang that can mean ‘to throw out,’ ‘to get rid of’ or ‘to refuse service to.’ Trump, of course, is the 47th president. 

‘I regret the distraction and the controversy around it,’ Comey said of the incident on MSNBC. ‘But again, it’s hard to have regret about something that, even in hindsight, looks to me to be totally innocent.’ 

Comey is not currently under investigation for the post and has said that neither he nor his wife, who was with him at the time, believed it had any nefarious meaning.

Still, the Comeys’ repeated public statements and his compliance with Secret Service personnel have done little to assuage some Trump administration officials, including Patel, who now has Comey’s former job. 

‘Tragically, this case was predictable,’ Patel told Fox News Digital on Tuesday in regard to Stinson’s alleged threats. 

‘When former Director Comey first pulled his destructive Instagram stunt, it forced the FBI to pull numerous agents off of critical portfolios, taking key personnel away from important initiatives protecting the American people to deal with an overwhelming number of copycats following Comey’s lead and posting threatening messages against the president of the United States,’ Patel said.

‘Thankfully, law enforcement did excellent work preventing a potential violent actor, and we’ll continue to be on guard,’ he added.

Stinson is a Northern Virginia resident, and while it is unclear to what degree Stinson was influenced by the Comey Instagram post or the resulting media coverage of it, court documents show that many of Stinson’s threats were posted long beforehand, including in the run-up to Election Day and during the 2024 presidential campaign. 

Stinson, a ‘self-identified’ member of Antifa, made at least one threat appearing to invoke the July 13 assassination attempt against Trump while he campaigned in Butler, Pennsylvania.

‘Those secret service agents moved very slowly,’ Stinson said in a post at the time. ‘They left him in the open way to (sic) long. A missed opportunity will not come around again. They will teach this to future agents as a failure to protect and act.’ 

In February, Stinson posted on his X account, ‘Sure. This is war. Sides will be drawn. Antifa always wins in the end. Violence is inherently necessary.’ 

The most recent post referenced in the document was published on BlueSky on June 11, when Stinson allegedly wrote, ‘When he dies, the party is going to be yuge.’

Comey did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment on Patel’s remarks nor on any role that the Instagram post in question may have inadvertently played in the case.

News of Stinson’s arrest comes after a federal grand jury indicted a San Bernardino County, California, man just weeks earlier for allegedly threatening to assassinate then-President-elect Donald Trump after he was elected to a second White House term.

‘This defendant is charged with threatening the life of our President – a man who has already survived two deranged attempts on his life,’ Attorney General Pam Bondi said at the time.

‘The Department of Justice takes these threats with the utmost seriousness and will prosecute this crime to the fullest extent of the law,’ Bondi added.

Fox News Digital’s Andrea Margoli contributed to this report.

 The Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee has lashed out at China, Russia and Iran for threatening U.S. national security interests in Africa in exclusive comments to Fox News Digital.

In a wide-ranging interview, Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, discussed the Trump administration’s approach to Africa, highlighting terrorism, war and concerns over trade on the continent. Risch emphasized the importance of Africa to the U.S. 

‘The economic opportunities in Africa cannot be understated, and the United States needs to have a seat at the table regarding trade and investment in the region,’ he said. ‘At the same time, there are serious national security challenges we need to address head on to include terrorism, widespread conflicts affecting regional stability, migration and trafficking.’

Russia, China and Iran have been criticized by Risch as being ‘malign actors’ in Africa, accused of military interventions, exploitative trade practices, and in Iran’s case, reported to be working on an agreement to extract refined ‘yellowcake’ uranium for its controversial nuclear program.

‘The malign actions of China and Russia, and even regional actors like Iran, are serious challenges to our national security interests in Africa,’ Risch said. ‘Countering the influence of these aggressors is as much about the U.S. pursuing greater partnerships with African states as it is about responding to the challenges put forward by countries like Russia and China in Africa.’

Risch weighed in on the role of the U.S. military on the continent, saying it ‘is to protect the American people, first and foremost, and that goal should remain the same in Africa. We have serious security threats in Africa, and we must take them seriously. Remember, Osama bin Laden hid in Sudan, bombed our embassies there, and planned his 9/11 attack.’

Then there’s the question of Islamist terror. Risch said he was ‘concerned about the spread of Islamist militants throughout parts of Africa, and has supported efforts to work with countries to help them get this situation under control.’

He added, ‘I am mindful that it is ultimately not up to us to confront this problem, and we have to stop being the only major player providing international support. Others, including African nations, must do more.’

Washington has Somalian terror clearly on its radar. In banning Somalians from entering the U.S. earlier this month, a White House proclamation stated, ‘The United States Government has identified Somalia as a terrorist safe haven.’

Al-Qaeda and Islamic State-affiliated terrorists operate openly. The U.S. military, through its Africa Command, has ramped up action against the groups since President Trump took office. So far this month, the U.S. has already carried out six air strikes against Islamic State in Somalia.

‘I have advocated so strongly for the United States to build an approach that relies less on a central government partner that has not delivered, and more on partners in Somalia and the region to bring about effective counterterrorism gains.

‘Fortunately, President Trump’s Africa policy has already shown he thinks outside the box, as demonstrated by the handling of recent airstrikes on Somalia with less hand-wringing, and more direct and decisive action.’

In Sudan, Russia and Iran have been fingered as protagonists pushing military agendas and war. An estimated 150,000 have been killed, and more than 12 million displaced, since civil war broke out in April 2023.

‘The war in Sudan must end, and the partition of the Sudanese state must be prevented. This is the worst humanitarian disaster in the world, and a playground for malign actors backing both sides,’ he said.

On President Donald Trump’s spearheading of efforts to bring peace to the Eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Risch said, ‘I know this administration is working hard to secure a deal between DRC and Rwanda that will end the fighting. America must serve as a counterweight to China’s critical minerals deals in the region, but can’t fully do so until the region is more stable.’

In South Africa, government ministers continue to meet with senior Russian, Chinese and Iranian officials. The African National Congress political party, which South African President Cyril Ramaphosa is the leader of, has hosted officials from the Hamas terror group. Yet the country benefits from duty-free benefits for products like cars and fruit in the U.S. under the African Growth and Opportunity Act, AGOA, and other trade deals.

Risch told Fox News Digital, ‘I have consistently raised national security concerns about South Africa’s AGOA eligibility. AGOA is set to expire later this year, and President Trump’s current tariff regime already overrides many of its benefits. I remain critical of the South African government’s posture, which is why I applauded Secretary Rubio’s decision not to allow U.S. representation at the G20.’

In November, South Africa is due to hand over the chairmanship of the G20 to the U.S. But at this time Washington is not sending a single official to the handover ceremony.

Fox News Digital reached out to the South African government, but received no response.

Senate Republicans are gearing up for the first full-scale congressional hearing into the alleged cover-up of former President Joe Biden’s cognitive decline.

Senators John Cornyn, R-Texas., and Eric Schmitt, R-Mo. will co-chair a Senate Judiciary Hearing Wednesday that delves into ‘what exactly went on’ during Biden’s term and why the constitutional power to remove him from office wasn’t triggered.

Cornyn said on the Senate floor that one of the main goals of the hearing was to shine a light on what happened behind the scenes during landmark moments of Biden’s presidency, ‘from the Biden border crisis to the disastrous results from the withdrawal in Afghanistan.

‘And it’s now clear that for many months — no one knows exactly how long — the president was simply not up to the task,’ he said. ‘Whoever happened to be making those decisions and carrying out the duties of the Office of President was not somebody who was authorized by the Constitution or by a vote of the American people.’

Cornyn and Schmitt’s hearing, first announced late last month, will be held after the release of the book ‘Original Sin’ by CNN host Jake Tapper and Axios reporter Alex Thompson, which alleges the Biden White House was trying to control the narrative about the former president’s health and that his allies worked to cover up his decline.

The hearing, ‘Unfit to Serve: How the Biden Cover-Up Endangered America and Undermined the Constitution,’ features a trio of witnesses called by the Senate Republican duo who served during President Donald Trump’s first term and during the Reagan and Bush years.

Among the Republicans’ witnesses are Theodore Wold, who formerly served as acting assistant attorney general in the Office of Legal Policy at the Justice Department and deputy assistant to the president for domestic policy during the Trump administration; Sean Spicer, former White House press secretary and communications director; and John Harrison, a legal scholar from the University of Virginia School of Law who previously served during former the Reagan and Bush administrations.

Wold and Harrison told Fox News Digital their testimony would focus on Biden’s alleged usage of an autopen, a device that is used to automatically mimic a person’s signature, typically used signing of numerous documents, and how the usage of the device may have acted as a smokescreen to prevent the triggering of the 25th Amendment.

Biden has rejected assertions by lawmakers and Trump that he habitually used an autopen. Trump recently ordered Attorney General Pam Bondi to open an investigation into whether the former president’s aides ‘abused the power of Presidential signatures through the use of an autopen to conceal Biden’s cognitive decline.’

Spicer’s testimony will focus on the media’s treatment of Trump compared to Biden during their respective first terms and how some media outlets were allegedly ‘silent’ when it came to signs of the ex-president’s decline.

Democrats on the panel did not call any witnesses.

The top-ranking Democrat on the committee, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., contended that Cornyn and Schmitt were wasting the panel’s time with their endeavor.

‘We have so many important topics to consider, and this is a totally political undertaking by several of my colleagues,’ he said. ‘It is a waste of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s time.’ 

Biden-appointed U.S. Judge Julia Kobick issued a ruling Tuesday to temporarily block the Trump administration’s move to only allow two genders, male and female, on U.S. passports.

In line with an executive order signed by President Donald Trump proclaiming the U.S. only recognizes two genders, the Department of State eliminated the ‘X’ designation on passport applications and suspended a policy allowing people to identify as the opposite sex or as intersex or nonbinary.

The move was widely reported by media outlets as ‘targeting transgender’ people. In April, Kobick, who is a federal judge for the U.S. District of Massachusetts, ruled to block the policy with regard to six people who sued the administration over it. 

Her Tuesday ruling extended her previous ruling to temporarily suspend the policy for all Americans.

Kobick stated in her ruling that the suit against the Trump administration’s policy is likely to succeed because she finds that it discriminates on the basis of sex, is ‘arbitrary and capricious’ and ‘rooted in irrational prejudice toward transgender Americans.’

Kobick wrote that ‘transgender and non-binary people who possess passports bearing sex markers that conflict with their gender identity and expression are… significantly more likely to experience psychological distress, suicidality, harassment, discrimination, and violence’ and that ‘obtaining gender concordant identity documents is part of the standard of care for treating gender dysphoria.’

The judge wrote that the policy would cause transgender individuals to ‘experience anxiety and psychological distress or fear for their safety if they were required to travel with passports bearing a sex designation corresponding to their sex assigned at birth, largely because they would effectively ‘out’ themselves every time they presented their passports.’

Trump’s order, titled ‘Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government,’ directed executive agencies to ‘recognize two sexes, male and female,’ saying, ‘these sexes are not changeable and are grounded in fundamental and incontrovertible reality.’

Though Kobick stated in her ruling that the government failed to demonstrate that the policies are substantially related to an important government interest, Trump’s executive order states that ‘efforts to eradicate the biological reality of sex fundamentally attack women by depriving them of their dignity, safety, and well-being’ and that ‘the erasure of sex in language and policy has a corrosive impact not just on women but on the validity of the entire American system.’

‘Across the country, ideologues who deny the biological reality of sex have increasingly used legal and other socially coercive means to permit men to self-identify as women and gain access to intimate single-sex spaces and activities designed for women, from women’s domestic abuse shelters to women’s workplace showers. This is wrong … Basing Federal policy on truth is critical to scientific inquiry, public safety, morale, and trust in government itself,’ reads the order.