Federal authorities are investigating after photographs revealed the anti-Trump message “8647” marked on the grass of the National Mall.
A photo taken by Reuters showed the markings near the World War II Memorial, with the “8” clearly visible and the other three numbers showing more faintly.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Park Police told CNN that the cause of the grass discoloration is still being investigated.
The “47” refers to President Trump, who is both the 45th and 47th U.S. president, while “86” is slang for get rid of or remove.
An Interior Department spokesperson told Reuters that the incident is “deranged vandalism” and that “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.”
White House spokesperson Davis Ingle told NBC 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.”
The Secret Service has investigated over 1,300 uses of “8647” or its anti-Biden equivalent “8646.” Not every official agrees that use of “8647” is an implicit call to violence.
Judge Randolph Moss, who presides in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, ruled last month that a protest group demonstrating near the National Mall is allowed to fly an “8647” flag in protest of Mr. Trump.
“The term ’86’ is used far more often to mean ’throw out’ than ’kill,’ and it appeared at a demonstration that was focused, of all things, on the constitutional impeachment and ’removal’ of the president,” Mr. Moss said in his ruling.
He also said that it is “difficult to fathom how the NPS (or the Secret Service) could have concluded that a reasonable observer would view the flag as a true threat.”
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