Former FBI Director James Comey indicted over Instagram post about Trump

James Comey was indicted by a federal grand jury in North Carolina after prosecutors tied a deleted Instagram post to what they say was a threat against President Donald Trump. The former FBI director is charged with threatening the life of the president and transmitting threats across state lines over a May 15, 2025 post that showed seashells arranged to read “86 47,” with the caption “Cool shell formation on my beach walk.”

The Justice Department said the numbers mattered because Trump is the 47th president, and its indictment said a reasonable recipient familiar with the circumstances would interpret the post as a serious expression of intent to do harm. Comey has denied that he meant to threaten Trump and pushed back in a video response, keeping the dispute centered on whether a political message crossed the line into a federal crime.

That line is now the heart of the case. Todd Blanche said the investigation into Comey had been going on for nearly a year, that Trump did not direct the prosecution, and that the Justice Department had additional evidence beyond the Instagram post, though he would not describe it. Blanche also said the department’s decision to seek an indictment against Comey did not mean everyone who posts or displays those numbers would be prosecuted, a distinction that will likely be tested in court.

The controversy began almost immediately after the post surfaced in May 2025, when Trump administration officials, including Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, said it amounted to a call for assassination and said the Secret Service was investigating. Comey’s defense is built in part on common usage: Merriam-Webster says “86” commonly means to throw out, get rid of, or refuse service to someone, tracing the term to 1930s soda-counter slang. That meaning could become central to any First Amendment challenge if defense lawyers argue the post was crude political symbolism rather than a true threat.

Comey’s legal team signaled it would challenge the charges on the same day the case became public, adding another chapter to a long feud with Trump that dates to Trump’s 2017 firing of Comey as FBI director. The indictment is Comey’s second federal prosecution in about a year, a striking escalation for a figure who once led the bureau and is now facing the question of what turns inflammatory speech into prosecutable conduct.