**WASHINGTON** — U.S. Park Police are investigating after the numbers “86 47” appeared as large, discolored patches in the grass on the National Mall, a phrase the White House says is a threat against President Donald Trump.
The markings were reported Thursday on the west lawn of the Washington Monument and were visible from a webcam atop the monument. Authorities have not said who made them or how. The grass appears deliberately burned or stained. Park Police said grass samples were collected for testing and that the investigation is ongoing.
White House spokesman Davis Ingle condemned the vandalism. “Anyone who engages in or endorses political violence or assassination culture must be condemned in the harshest terms possible,” he said.
In restaurant slang, “86” can mean to remove or get rid of something; critics of Trump have used “86 47” as a political slogan aimed at the 47th president. The administration has treated the phrase as a call for violence.
The same numbers surfaced last year in a legal fight over former FBI Director James B. Comey. In May 2025, Comey posted an Instagram photo of seashells on a North Carolina beach arranged as “86 47.” He later deleted the post and said he had simply photographed a formation he noticed on a walk. The Secret Service opened an inquiry.
Last month, Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, told Fox News the post was a crime under 18 U.S.C. § 871, which bars threats against the president. Anchor Bill Hemmer cited Comey’s beach explanation. Jordan rejected it.
“OK, that’s his story. I don’t think anyone buys that,” Jordan said. He tied the episode to Comey’s role in the early Trump-Russia investigation, saying a “10-year attack” on Trump “started with Comey.”
A federal grand jury in North Carolina later charged Comey with threatening the president and transmitting a threat in interstate commerce. U.S. District Judge Louise W. Flanagan of the Eastern District of North Carolina, a George W. Bush appointee, was assigned the case.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the indictment followed a year-long inquiry, not the photo alone. “The career assistant United States attorneys in North Carolina, the career FBI agents, the career Secret Service agents that investigated this case didn’t just look at the Instagram post and walk away,” Blanche told Fox News. He declined to describe grand-jury evidence but said the May 2025 post was only one part of the file.
No one has been publicly identified in the Mall case. Park Police have not released a cause for the discoloration or said whether they view the lawn markings as a threat, vandalism, or both.
