Overview
- The indictment, returned Tuesday by a grand jury in the Eastern District of North Carolina, charges Comey with threatening the president and sending a threatening interstate communication, with each count carrying up to ten years in prison.
- Prosecutors say the case stems from a May 2025 Instagram photo of seashells spelling “86 47,” a phrase critics read as code to “get rid of” the 47th president, and Comey deleted the post that day.
- Comey says he had no violent intent and declared himself innocent, and the U.S. Secret Service previously interviewed him for hours to assess any threat from the post.
- Legal experts say the prosecution will have to clear the high First Amendment bar for a criminal “true threat” given the image’s ambiguity.
- The new case follows a 2025 DOJ indictment that a judge tossed over an illegal interim prosecutor appointment, and reporting links the renewed effort to pressure from Trump and a faster charging pace under acting Attorney General Todd Blanche.