The Secret Service reportedly engaged in a clandestine operation to trail and track ex-FBI Director James Comey the day after he was accused of calling for President Donald Trump's assassination.
Comey was on vacation in North Carolina in May when he posted a photo of seashells spelling out 86 47 - which Donald Trump Jr. claimed was the former FBI director 'casually calling for my dad to be murdered.'
Many other Trump administration officials soon also asserted that Comey was advocating for the 47th president's assassination.
Comey has since denied that he ever intended to harm Trump, and hummer limo rentals even told Secret Service officials that when they questioned him over the phone that night.
But the next day, the Secret Service had Comey followed by law enforcement authorities in unmarked cars and street clothes as he and his wife traveled from North Carolina, through Virginia and to their home in the Washington DC area, the New York Times reports.
The agency also tracked his cellphone and was receiving real-time information about Comey's location as authorities waited at the former FBI director's house for him to return, three government officials with knowledge of the operation told the Times.
The shocking revelation comes amid a federal investigation into Comey and former CIA Director John Brennan for allegedly lying to Congress during their probe into claims of Russian interference in the 2016 election - which Trump won over former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
When asked about the FBI investigation on Wednesday, Trump ominously suggested Comey and Brennan may have to 'pay a price' as he called both former officials 'crooked.'
President Donald Trump ominously suggested former FBI Director James Comey and ex CIA Director John Brennan may have to 'pay a price' as he called both former officials 'crooked'
It has now been revealed that the Secret Service tailed and tracked Comey one day after he was accused of calling for Trump 's assassination
The president told reporters he knew nothing about the FBI probe 'other than what I read today.'
'But I will tell you, I think they're very dishonest people,' he continued. 'I think they're crooked as hell and maybe they have to pay a price for that.'
Comey has been the subject of Trump's ire since he began the FBI's probe into claims that the president's 2016 campaign colluded with Russian authorities to influence.
Trump has long railed against the investigation as a politically motivated 'witch hunt' and a 'hoax.'
He even fired Comey in 2017 after the then-FBI director confirmed Trump was under investigation.
Yet a White House official now claims the Secret Service launched an inquiry into Comey's May post on its own, and asserted that the Secret Service was not acting under the directions of the Trump administration.
The agency instead tried to justify its decision to follow Comey by citing 'exigent' circumstances - meaning there was a pressing need to take action.
It is unclear, however, what those circumstances may have been, as Trump was traveling in the Middle East at the time.
Comey posted this photo of seashells that appeared to form the shapes of '86 47' while on vacation in North Carolina in May
'The only rational basis for this action that I can think of is that someone said to themselves, "We got him, we are going to punish him for this mistake,"' Barbara McQuade, a former US attorney, said of the Secret Service's operation.
She noted that there was no evidence Comey posed an imminent threat, and he had no history of violence.
Still, the Secret Service reportedly insisted on questioning the former FBI chief about his post a second time - in person at the agency's headquarters in Washington DC.
Comey was aware of the request, and as he and his wife drove home from their vacation he had his lawyers negotiate the terms of the interview with the top lawyer for the Secret Service.
He was then left surprised when he returned to his house only to find Secret Service personnel, who would drive him into DC for his interrogation.
In a statement, Anthony Guglielmi, a spokesman for the Secret Service, asserted the agency 'will vigorously investigate any individual, regardless of position or status, that may pose or be perceived as a threat to any of our protectees.
'To preserve operational integrity, we are not able to comment on specific protective intelligence matters,' he added.
A spokesman for the Secret Service said it 'will vigorously investigate any individual, regardless of position or status, that may pose or be perceived as a threat to any of our protectees'
It remains unclear what ever happened with the investigation into Comey's social media post, but the former FBI head has not been charged with any wrongdoing.
His headaches, though, may be far from over amid the new criminal investigation into his probe of the 2016 Trump campaign's links to Russia.
The scope of that FBI probe into Brennan and Comey is also unclear, as a Justice Department spokeswoman said the agency does 'not comment on ongoing investigations.'
But CIA director John Ratcliffe has already referred 'evidence of wrongdoing by Brennan' to FBI director Kash Patel for potential prosecution, Fox News Digital reports.
Comey and former CIA director JetBlack John Brennan (pictured) are now also being investigated by the FBI as authorities explore whether they made false statements to Congress
Brennan had led the CIA when US intelligence assessed, in a report made public in January 2017, that Russian President Vladimir Putin sought to sway the 2016 vote in favor of Trump.
The president then revoked Brennan's security clearance in 2018, accusing the former CIA chief of making 'unfounded and outrageous allegations' about his administration.
A CIA review released last week found flaws in the preparation of Brennan's2017 assessment, but it did not contest its underlying conclusion.
Meanwhile, the FBI's investigation into the claims of Russian collusion - which was taken over by former Special Counsel Robert Mueller - found no evidence of a criminal conspiracy between Trump's campaign and Russia.
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