Comey indicted over seashell Instagram post accused of threatening Trump

A federal grand jury in North Carolina indicted former FBI Director James Comey over a deleted Instagram post that showed seashells arranged to read “86 47,” a sequence Trump administration officials treated as a threat against Donald Trump. The indictment, returned on April 28, 2026, marked the second federal prosecution of Comey in a matter of months after an earlier case against him was dismissed in November 2025.

The post at the center of the case appeared in May 2025 and included the caption, “Cool shell formation on my beach walk.” Prosecutors and Trump allies argued that “86” meant remove or get rid of someone and that “47” referred to Trump as the 47th president, turning the image into an implicit call for violence. Comey said he assumed the shells were a political message and opposed violence of any kind. He deleted the post after backlash.

The new indictment reportedly includes two federal charges, one accusing Comey of making threats against the president and successors, and another alleging transmission of a threat in interstate commerce. That filing immediately raised the institutional question now shadowing the Justice Department: whether a prosecution involving a prominent Trump adversary can be seen as a routine law-enforcement decision when Trump himself had publicly urged then-Attorney General Pam Bondi to bring criminal charges against Comey and other perceived foes.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said at a Justice Department news conference on April 28 that the case was about an unlawful threat, not protected speech. He said threatening the life of the president “will never be tolerated.” A day later, Blanche rejected the idea that Trump had ordered the case, telling CBS Mornings, “Of course not, absolutely, positively not,” when asked whether the president directed the prosecution.

The clash between those assurances and the political backdrop is likely to keep the case under intense scrutiny. Comey, long one of Trump’s most prominent adversaries, was already facing renewed pressure after the earlier federal case was thrown out in November 2025. Now the government must prove not only that the Instagram post crossed a criminal line, but also that the Justice Department’s move was driven by law rather than presidential retaliation.