Former FBI Director James Comey surrendered to authorities on Wednesday to face a charge alleging that an image he briefly shared on social media posed a threat to the life of President Donald Trump. It stems from an Instagram post shared by Comey, which contained an image of seashells on a beach arranged to read “86 47”. “Eighty-six” is a slang term for “get rid of”, and prosecutors allege it encourages violence against Trump, the 47th president.
Comey denies any wrongdoing, saying he did not know what the numbers meant, and accused the prosecution of political motivation.
This marks the second time the justice department has brought criminal charges against Comey, a longtime critic of Trump.
Comey did not speak during his brief appearance at a Virginia court, but his attorney said the former director would argue the case was a vindictive prosecution, or punishment for speaking out against Trump, Reuters reported.
In his second term, President Trump has publicly implied that justice department officials should investigate his political adversaries. The government has indicted figures like Comey and New York Attorney General Tish James, who brought fraud cases against the president.
Attorney General Todd Blanche said on Wednesday the new charges against Comey were “absolutely, positively not” politically motivated.
“Of course, it’s serious when you threaten the President of the United States,” Blanche told CBS News, BBC’s US partner. “Anybody that tries to put forward some narrative that this is just about seashells, or something to the contrary is missing the point. You cannot threaten the President of the United States.”
Blanche referenced Saturday’s attack at the White House Correspondents Association Dinner, in which a man charged towards the ballroom where Trump was in attendance before US Secret Service stopped him.
Comey’s original post from May 2025 contained an image of the seashells on a beach that spelled out “86 47”, with the caption, “Cool shell formation on my beach walk”.
Following a public outcry, Comey deleted the image and posted a follow-up note on Instagram.
“I posted earlier a picture of some shells I saw today on a beach walk, which I assume were a political message,” he wrote. “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.”
In their indictment, prosecutors wrote that a “reasonable recipient who is familiar with the circumstances would interpret” the photo “as a serious expression of an intent to do harm to the President of the United States.”
Each charge carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison or a fine, or both.
Some legal experts – and lawmakers – have cast doubt on the strength of the case. Republican Senator Thom Tillis told reporters on Wednesday that he hoped “there’s more to it than just the picture in the sand”.
“Otherwise, I just think it’s another example where we’re going to regret this because we’re setting a fairly low bar,” he said.
Comey was earlier indicted by a federal grand jury in late September on charges that he lied to Congress during a testimony and obstructed a congressional proceeding.
Comey pleaded not guilty in October before the case was dismissed in November.
US District Judge Cameron Currie tossed the indictment against Comey because of prosecutor Lindsey Halligan’s “invalid” appointment as US attorney.
Halligan, the prosecutor in eastern Virginia who secured the indictments, was not authorised to present the charges to the grand jury, the judge said.
By BBC News
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