Secret Service questions Mattituck farmer over Trump slogan sign

Two Secret Service agents pulled up to Cooper Farms on Breakwater Road in Mattituck on Tuesday, July 8, after a sign reading 86 47 above a large American flag spread across social media and drew federal attention. The encounter lasted about 15 minutes, began around 1 p.m., and was captured on video by a relative.

Douglas Cooper, whose family has farmed on the North Fork for nearly 200 years, said the sign was meant as a political message that Congress should remove Donald Trump from office, or that voters should do it if lawmakers did not. He said a previous 86 47 sign on the property had been stolen, and the replacement was hung with a cherry picker above Breakwater Road after the Fourth of July holiday.

The agents arrived in a black Jeep Grand Cherokee and asked Cooper about his ties to the area, whether he had traveled to Washington, Trump Tower or political rallies, and whether he had any affiliations. Cooper said the agents were professional, polite and courteous, and the sign remained in place after they left.

Photos of the sign circulated quickly online and drew hundreds of comments before the original post was taken down.

In restaurant slang, 86 usually means to remove, eject or get rid of something. In political settings, 86 47 has been treated as a possible threat, and the Secret Service was alerted after the sign drew attention.

In a separate June case near the White House, a federal judge declined to order the removal of a flag reading 86 47, saying the government had not shown an evidentiary basis that the speech threatened the president. The flag had been put up by Accountability Now around May 12 under a National Park Service permit, and the Secret Service later investigated a volunteer after encountering it and ordered it taken down, setting off court action.