Former FBI Director James Comey is under investigation by the Secret Service after deleting a social media post after sharing, which Republicans claim is an incitement to President Donald Trump’s violence.

Comey posted a photo of shells on Instagram spelled "8647" and his caption was "Cool Shell Formation on My Beach Trail."

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the number 86 is a term whose definition includes "reject" or "get rid of it", which also states that it has recently been used as a term for "kill".

Trump is the 47th president of the United States. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem claimed the news was a call for Trump’s assassination, but Comey said he opposed violence.

Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said in X's post: "We have vigorously investigated anything that can be seen as a potential threat to our protectors.

"We are aware of the social media posts of the former FBI Director, and we take such remarks very seriously. Apart from that, we have no comment on protective intelligence matters."

Comey deleted the Instagram post and said in a follow-up that he "assumes (Shell) is political information."

"I didn't realize that some people associate these numbers with violence," he added. "It never happened to me, but I opposed any kind of violence, so I fell down my post."

Last year, Trump survived two attempts to assassinate.

Kash Patel, the current FBI director, responded on social media, saying the bureau was “aware of the recent social media post by former FBI Director James Comey, targeting President Trump.”

"We are communicating with the Secret Service and Directors of Couran. The primary jurisdiction is related to these matters with SS (Secret Service) and we will provide all necessary support."

"The lost former FBI director James Comey just called for the assassination of Trump," Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said on X.

She said her department and Secret Service will investigate the matter.

White House Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino posted on X, accusing Comey of “the plea to bad actors/terrorists for assassinating that diligence while traveling internationally”, referring to Trump’s current trip to the Middle East.

The president’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr, also answered to X: “James Comey’s causality (sic) calls on my father to be murdered.”

Comey served as a director of the FBI during the 2013-17 year period.

His term was disappointing, including monitoring a high-profile investigation into emails from Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, who ended up losing to Trump just weeks before the 2016 election.

He was fired by Trump in an investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 election.