On Tuesday (April 28), the Department of Justice announced that they had indicted former FBI director James Comey for a second time, alleging that he threatened the life of President Donald Trump. The indictment also included a warrant for his arrest.
The grand jury, convened in North Carolina, returned the indictement in connection with an image that Comey posted on his social media from his walk on a beach in the state last year. The image on Instagram showed the shells spelling out “8647.”
“Well, they’re back,” Comey said in a video he posted to his Substack newsletter. “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.” He added, “I’m still innocent. I’m still not afraid. And I still believe in the independent federal judiciary, so let’s go.”
Comey had deleted the image with the “8647” term, after it caused an uproar. The term was a combination of the slang term “86,” meaning to remove or get rid of, along with the numerical designation for Trump’s second term as president.
Members of the Trump administration seized upon the social media post, claiming that Comey’s intent was to call for the president to be assassinated. That was echoed by the current FBI director, Kash Patel, who stated at a press conference that Comey’s post “disgracefully encouraged a threat on President Trump’s life and posted it on Instagram for the world to see.”
News of the three-page indictment at the press conference brought about questions for acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche, including how the DOJ would be able to prove Comey had ill intent with the post. “You prove intent with witnesses, with documents, with the defendant himself,” Blanche said, adding, “and that’s how we’ll prove intent in this case.”
It’s another example of agencies working to prosecute those who Trump has deemed his enemies. Comey was indicted by a federal grand jury last September in Virginia, having been accused of lying and obstruction during a congressional hearing he testified at in 2020. The news also comes on the day that Comey’s daughter, Maureen, won a court ruling allowing her to sue the government after she was fired as a prosecutor in Manhattan last year.
