Trump's disgraced ex-AG pick may have accidentally blown up his revenge case

President Donald Trump's former pick for attorney general and disgraced former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) might have sabotaged the president's strategy to try and take down his perceived enemy, former FBI Director James Comey, according to TMZ on Wednesday.

Trump had nominated Gaetz in 2025 for the top Justice Department job and something he wrote could come back to haunt the president as he launches his second attempt to indict Comey — this time over a photo of seashells that Comey shared on his Instagram that said "8647." He captioned it "Cool shell formation on my beach walk."

Trump's DOJ has claimed that the seashells and '86' were a threat and has charged Comey with threatening the president's life. But TMZ pointed to Webster's Dictionary, which calls the slang meaning "to throw out," "to get rid of," or "to refuse service to." The outlet also cited a former post from Gaetz that could poke holes in the DOJ's argument.

"Gaetz withdrew in 2025 before a confirmation hearing could be held, but something he said the year before undermines the DOJ's claim that Comey clearly meant 86 as a threat to assassinate," TMZ reported.

Gaetz wrote the following on X:

"We’ve now 86’d:
McCarthy [Former Speaker of the House]
McDaniel [Former RNC Chair]
McConnell [Former Senate Majority Leader]
Better days are ahead for the Republican Party."

"All 3 either stepped down or were ousted from their positions ... so, as Webster's says, they were either thrown out or gotten rid of ... and it has nothing to do with death threats," TMZ added.