(The Lion) — The president of the Kirkwood, Missouri, school board posted what Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Missouri, described as a thinly veiled call for the assassination of President Donald Trump.

Judy Moticka, president of the Kirkwood School District Board of Education, near St. Louis, posted a message mourning the end of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

She called Colbert “a national treasure” before ending the post with “8647.”

The number has been interpreted by some Trump supporters as a coded threat against the president.

Schmitt called out Moticka directly.

“Nothing to see here just the President of the Kirkwood, MO school board Judy Moticka calling for the murder of the President of the United States,” Schmitt wrote on X. “No news coverage about it. Just the casual acceptance of the Luigi Left’s assassination culture.”

Nothing to see here just the President of the Kirkwood, MO school board Judy Moticka calling for the murder of the President of the United States. No news coverage about it. Just the casual acceptance of the Luigi Left’s assassination culture. pic.twitter.com/ejDLTKtKie

— Eric Schmitt (@Eric_Schmitt) June 1, 2026

As the story spread on social media, only First Alert 4 in St. Louis reported on the controversy.

The “Luigi Left” reference used by Schmitt refers to people who celebrated the December 2024 killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson by Luigi Mangione, portraying him as a folk hero and viewing violence as a legitimate form of political protest.

Schmitt has previously argued that praise for Mangione reflects a broader tolerance among some Democrats for political violence. He pointed to polling that found 55% of self-identified liberals believe violence against Trump is at least somewhat justified.

“This isn’t a both sides thing,” Schmitt told Dana Perino on Fox News following an assassination attempt on Trump in April. “We should condemn political violence, but the Democrats, Dana, they won’t do it. If you listen to Hakeem Jeffries yesterday, he refused to do it. He’s sort of doubling down on this. It’s very dangerous.”

Moticka’s term as board president runs through 2028.

She was re-elected in April 2025 and serves on the curriculum, wellness, policy and equity committees in the affluent district, which has about 6,000 students.

Her campaign website lists her motto as “Moving the district forward with Knowledge and Compassion.

The term “86” can mean to remove, reject or get rid of something, while “47” is commonly understood as a reference to Trump as the nation’s 47th president.

The “8647” phrase has drawn federal attention in recent months.

Former FBI Director James Comey was indicted earlier this year after posting an Instagram image showing seashells arranged to form the numbers.

“Threatening the life of the President of the United States is a grave violation of our nation’s laws,” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement. “The grand jury returned an indictment alleging James Comey did just that, at a time when this country has witnessed violent incitement followed by deadly actions against President Trump and other elected officials. The temperature needs to be turned down, and anyone who dials it up and threatens the life of the President will be held accountable.”

Schmitt noted there have been multiple alleged attempts on Trump’s life since 2024, including one at a golf course where he was playing with the president.

While many news reports describe “86” as restaurant slang meaning to get rid of something or someone, some historical references have also associated the term with killing a person by burying them “8 feet long and 6 feet deep.”

“He knew exactly what that meant,” Trump said of Comey, according to USA Today. “A child knows what that meant. That meant assassination.”

The Kirkwood School District, Moticka and the other members of the Board of Education did not respond to The Lion’s requests for comment.

The district and Moticka later issued separate statements to First Alert 4 acknowledging the post but arguing the matter involved personal speech.

“We are aware of a social media post made in mid-May by a board member on their personal account,” the district said. “As individuals, board members possess the right to free speech. However, the personal activity of any single member does not reflect the position of the district or the Board of Education. Our primary focus remains on serving our students and collaborating with the Board in its official capacity.”

Like Comey, Moticka denied intending to threaten the president and said she did not realize the phrase would be interpreted as advocating political violence.

“It is hard to cut through the noise, but I feel it is important to provide context and ensure a clear understanding,” Moticka said in her statement. “At no point was I representing myself as the school board president, and nowhere in my profile do I identify myself as such. It is my private account where I usually share pictures of my family, travel photos, and occasionally commiserate with friends about the state of the world.”

Comey addressed criticism over the “8647” phrase during an appearance on Colbert’s show last year and in interviews with other media outlets after the controversy emerged.

In a report published earlier in May, The Washington Post wrote that some people on the political left were getting as close as possible to calling for violence against Trump while avoiding explicit legal liability.

The controversy comes as the White House Correspondents’ Association has rescheduled the public dinner that was interrupted in April by an alleged assassination attempt against the president by Cole Tomas Allen. The event will be held July 24 at the Waldorf Astoria hotel and will be smaller than the dinner at the Washington Hilton that Allen disrupted.