U.S. authorities investigate giant ‘8647’ marked on grass on National Mall – National
U.S. authorities are investigating after the numbers “8647” appeared in large scale in the grass of the National Mall in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, days before U.S. President Donald Trump’s birthday.
Images show the numbers on the lawn, with the numbers eight and seven appearing clearly in the browned grass.
The phrase “86 47” is part of the criminal case against former FBI director James Comey, who was indicted in April over a social media photo of seashells arranged in the sequence of numbers that officials said constituted a threat against Trump.
Comey has denied that he wished any violence against Trump with the social media post.
An Interior Department spokesperson referred to the incident as “deranged vandalism” in a statement to Global News.
“The deranged vandalism on our National Mall will not be tolerated. Any threat against the president is taken very seriously by the Department, and our U.S. Park Police will investigate this incident and hold those responsible accountable,” the spokesperson said.
White House spokesperson Davis Ingle told Global News that “anyone who engages in or endorses political violence or assassination culture must be condemned in the harshest terms possible.”
“They should also immediately seek psychiatric help to treat their severe and debilitating case of Trump Derangement Syndrome that has warped their brains and made them sick in the head,” he added in his statement.
National Park Service workers were seen roping off the area where the numbers were marked in the grass on Thursday afternoon, ABC News reports.
It remains unclear when or how the numbers were marked into the ground.
Global News has reached out to the U.S. Park Police for further comment, but has not received a response.
Comey deleted his social media post shortly after it was made, writing: “I didn’t realize some folks associate those numbers with violence” and “I oppose violence of any kind so I took the post down.”
Get breaking National news
Get breaking Canada news delivered to your inbox as it happens so you won’t miss a trending story.
The Secret Service interviewed Comey after Trump administration officials asserted that he was advocating the assassination of Trump, the 47th president.
The case was filed in the Eastern District of North Carolina, the state where Comey found the seashells.
The two-count indictment charges Comey with “knowingly and willfully” making a threat to “take the life of, and to inflict bodily harm upon” Trump and with transmitting a threat in interstate commerce.
Merriam-Webster says 86 is slang meaning “to throw out,” “to get rid of” or “to refuse service to.”
The latest incident at the National Mall comes after numerous installations featuring Trump have been displayed on the grounds.
In March, a statue depicting Trump and the late convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein as Titanic characters Jack and Rose from one of the most famous scenes in the film appeared on the National Mall.
The statue references the famous scene where Jack, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, stands at the bow of the ship with Rose, played by Kate Winslet, as she stretches her arms out to the sides. In the moment, Jack famously shouts, “I’m king of the world!”
The installation came from Secret Handshake, an organization that has been behind the Trump and Epstein friendship statue as well as the giant replica of a birthday message allegedly written by Trump to Epstein.
The Titanic-inspired installation is named “KING OF THE WORLD.” A plaque references the movie’s “tragic love story” between Jack and Rose, saying it was built on “luxurious travel, raucous parties, and secret nude sketches.”
In January, Secret Handshake created a giant replica of a birthday message allegedly written by Trump in 2003 to Epstein that appeared on the National Mall.
The card first became public in September 2025 after it was released by the Democratic Party. This came after Trump threatened to sue the Wall Street Journal in July for reporting that Trump had produced the suggestive letter and drawing as part of an album created by Ghislaine Maxwell for Epstein’s 50th birthday in 2003.
The 10-foot-tall birthday card was displayed across from the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 19 and read “Happy birthday to a ‘terrific guy!’” on one side.
On the other side of the card was the alleged message Trump reportedly sent Epstein. The text was framed by a hand-drawn outline of what appears to be a torso of a woman with a message that says, “We have certain things in common, Jeffrey.”
“A pal is a wonderful thing. Happy Birthday—and may every day be another wonderful secret,” the letter read, signed at the bottom purportedly by Trump.
Trump has denied having anything to do with it and called the creations “a fake thing,” adding that he “never wrote a picture in my life. I don’t draw pictures of women.”
People look at a 10-foot-tall protest art installation, also referred to as ‘The Epstein Birthday card,’ at the National Mall near the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 21, 2026 in Washington, D.C.
Olivier Douliery/ABACAPRESS.COM
In September 2025, the Secret Handshake group unveiled a statue of Trump and Epstein holding hands on the National Mall.
The bronze sculpture, titled “Best Friends Forever,” first appeared on Sept. 23 on the National Mall in Washington but was removed the following day.
The temporary installation, which depicted the men holding hands as they frolicked, smiled and stared into each other’s eyes, reappeared on Oct. 2 amid a government shutdown.
A statue depicting U.S. President Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein holding hands is seen near the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 2, 2025.
Mehmet Eser/Middle East Images/ABACAPRESS.COM
“We celebrate the long-lasting bond between President Donald J. Trump and his ‘closest friend,’ Jeffrey Epstein,” a plaque at the foot of the installation read.
White House deputy press secretary Abigail Jackson dismissed the installation at the time in a statement to the Hill.
“Liberals are free to waste their money however they see fit — but it’s not news that Epstein knew Donald Trump, because Donald Trump kicked Epstein out of his club for being a creep,” she said at the time.
— with files from Global News’ Rachel Goodman and The Associated Press
© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
