Comey indicted over Instagram seashell post seen as Trump threat

James B. Comey was back in court in Alexandria with a new federal case built around an Instagram image that showed seashells arranged to read “86 47.” Prosecutors say the May 2025 post amounted to a threat against President Donald Trump, and the new two-count indictment adds a charge of transmitting threats across state lines, sharpening a case that had already become a test of how far criminal law can reach into online speech.

The indictment was returned by a federal grand jury in the Eastern District of North Carolina on April 28, 2026, after prosecutors spent nearly a year examining the post. That second count matters: it gives the Justice Department a broader theory of the case and a clearer path to argue that Comey’s message was not casual political commentary but a criminal threat that moved through interstate channels. The government will still have to prove that the post was a true threat rather than speech protected by the First Amendment, a hurdle that gives the case significance far beyond Comey himself.

Comey surrendered to authorities and made his first court appearance the next day in Alexandria, Virginia. The hearing lasted about seven minutes, and he did not enter a plea. The brief proceeding signaled a fast-moving prosecution, with the government moving to lock in the case’s framework before the fight over intent, context and constitutional protection fully begins.

This is Comey’s second indictment after an earlier case was dismissed in November 2025, when a judge ruled that the appointment of the Trump-backed prosecutor was invalid. That dismissal reset the legal terrain and gave the Justice Department an opening to come back with a fresh indictment from a different grand jury. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel have defended the prosecution, and Patel said the bureau had spent nearly a year investigating the Instagram post.

Comey answered with a video posted to Substack, saying, “I’m still innocent, I’m still not afraid and I still believe in the independent federal judiciary.” His lawyer, Patrick Fitzgerald, said Comey “vigorously denies the charges” and will contest them in court. For prosecutors, the escalation is clear: they have moved from a disputed first attempt to a narrower, more deliberate case built to survive scrutiny over one of the strangest criminal threats allegations in recent memory, a federal indictment rooted in a former FBI director’s social-media image of seashells on a beach.