Tillis rejects Comey indictment, calls him his biggest disappointment

Thom Tillis drew a hard line without softening his view of James Comey. The North Carolina Republican called the former FBI director the “biggest disappointment” of his Senate career, yet said he does not support what he described as a “vindictive prosecution” in the federal case over a seashell image reading “8647.”

That split stance matters because the Comey indictment has become more than a dispute over one Instagram post. It is now a test of how far Republican lawmakers are willing to go in treating political hostility as a crime, and where they believe federal law enforcement crosses from punishment into retaliation.

The Justice Department announced the indictment on Tuesday, April 28, 2026, after a federal grand jury in the Eastern District of North Carolina returned two counts against Comey, who was 65 at the time. Prosecutors charged him under 18 U.S.C. § 871 for threatening the life of the president and under 18 U.S.C. § 875(c) for transmitting a threat in interstate commerce. Each count carries a reported maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.

The case stems from a May 2025 Instagram post that showed seashells arranged to read “8647,” a message Trump allies interpreted as a threat against President Donald Trump, the 47th president. Trump accused Comey of calling for his assassination, while Comey denied that the post was meant as a threat. The image was later deleted.

Tillis’s comments were notable because they paired political judgment with constitutional caution. He said he regretted supporting Comey’s 2013 nomination to lead the FBI, but still refused to back the indictment. That distinction cut against the idea that personal dislike alone should justify criminal charges, even for a figure many Republicans see as a symbol of institutional resistance to Trump.

The line from the administration has been that the case is not built only on the Instagram post. Todd Blanche said on Meet the Press that career FBI agents and Secret Service agents reviewed more than the post itself, and ABC News reported that he said the Justice Department’s decision to pursue Comey does not mean everyone who posts or displays “86 47” would be prosecuted.

The prosecution also arrives with baggage. Comey’s earlier federal case in the Eastern District of Virginia was dismissed in 2025, and court records show that case was terminated on November 24, 2025. CBS News reported that legal experts expect the new indictment to face serious challenges and may be difficult to take to trial.

For Republicans, the Comey case is becoming a boundary test. Tillis’s response shows how some GOP lawmakers can condemn a longtime adversary, question the judgment behind the post, and still recoil from turning the Justice Department into a tool of retribution.