The United States Department of Justice on Tuesday indicted former FBI Director James Comey for a second time.
The new charges stemmed from a provocative Instagram post shared by the ex-FBI chief last year. Comey’s photo showed a seashell formation — which he claimed to have stumbled across by happenstance — depicting the numbers “86” and “47.”
Critics immediately assumed that the shell formation had a sinister meaning. In the restaurant world, “86” generally means to take out or eliminate, and “47” was a presumptive reference to President Donald Trump, who is currently serving as the 47th President of the United States.
A federal grand jury in North Carolina returned a two-count felony indictment and an arrest warrant against Comey: making threats to kill or harm President Trump, and sending those threats across state lines using social media.
“While this case is unique and this indictment stands out because of the name of the defendant, his alleged conduct is the same kind of conduct that we will never tolerate and that we will always investigate and regularly prosecute,” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said.
Comey, in a video posted on his Substack, said he’s innocent.
“Well, they’re back. This time about a picture of seashells on a North Carolina Beach a year ago, and this won’t be the end of it, but nothing has changed with me. I’m still innocent, I’m still not afraid, and I still believe in the independent federal judiciary, so let’s go,” Comey said. “But it’s really important that all of us remember this is not who we are as a country. This is not how the Department of Justice is supposed to be. And the good news is we get closer every day to restoring those values — keep the faith.”
Just James Comey causally calling for my dad to be murdered.
This is who the Dem-Media worships. Demented!!!! pic.twitter.com/4LUK6crHAT
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) May 15, 2025
The now-deleted post earned Comey a visit from the Secret Service — and the ousted FBI head honcho released a public message attempting to downplay the incident.
“I posted a picture earlier of some shells I saw on a beach walk, which I assumed were a political message,” Comey said on Instagram. “I didn’t realize some folks associate those numbers with violence. It never occurred to me but I oppose violence of any kind so I took the post down.”
The Justice Department said the case has been under investigation over the past 11 months.
“This investigation just didn’t come now. It’s the result of a lot of work by law enforcement over the past year,” Blanche said. “I am not going to talk about the evidence that we have. That’s unfair to him. It’s unfair to the prosecutors, but it’s enough to say that the grand jury returned an indictment.”
In September 2025, the Department of Justice indicted Comey for making false statements and obstruction of a congressional proceeding. A federal judge dismissed those charges, finding that Lindsey Halligan, the Trump-appointed prosecutor who secured their indictments, was unlawfully serving as interim U.S. attorney.