DOJ Brings Second Indictment Against Former FBI Director James Comey

Former FBI Director James Comey is facing a second criminal indictment, this time on charges related to a beach photo he posted last May of the numbers "86 47" spelled out in seashells.

He has been charged with making a threat against the president and transmitting a threat through interstate commerce, according to an indictment out of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina.

"He publicly posted a photograph on the internet social media site Instagram which depicted seashells arranged in a pattern making out '86 47', which a reasonable recipient who is familiar with the circumstances would interpret as a serious expression of an intent to do harm to the President of the United States," the indictment reads.

A court clerk issued an arrest warrant for Comey following the indictment.

Comey was vacationing in North Carolina and took a photo of the seashells and posted the photo, with the caption "Cool shell formation on my beach walk." The number "86" is slang for getting rid of or throwing something out, and "47" ostensibly references President Donald Trump, as he is currently the 47th president.

Comey ultimately deleted the post after receiving intense backlash from critics, some of whom argued he was surreptitiously calling for Trump's assassination.

"I posted earlier a picture of some shells I saw today on a beach walk, which I assumed were a political message," Comey 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."

Both the president and his allies described the photo as a threat. By May 2025, the president had already experienced two separate and credible assassination attempts. Following the weekend's White House Correspondents Dinner shooting, there have now been three attempts to take the president's life.

"He knew exactly what that meant. A child knows what that meant," Trump told Fox News's Bret Baier at the time. "If you're the FBI director and you don't know what that meant, that meant ‘assassination,’ and it says it loud and clear."

At the time of the post, then-Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Comey would be investigated by the Secret Service, saying the photo was a call "for the assassination" of Trump.

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard echoed similar sentiments, previously telling Fox News she was "very concerned" for the president's life, noting Comey should be "put behind bars for this."

This is the second indictment the Trump Justice Department has brought against Comey. The DOJ first indicted Comey in September 2025 for lying to Congress. However, a federal judge threw out the case, saying the prosecutor involved was improperly appointed.

Meanwhile, Comey's daughter, Maurene Comey is suing the Justice Department for unlawful dismissal from her role as a federal prosecutor.

Her lawsuit says she was let go "solely or substantially because her father is former FBI Director James B. Comey, or because of her perceived political affiliation and beliefs, or both." A federal judge in New York allowed the suit to move forward against the DOJ.

James Comey was, and remains, a vocal critic of the president after Trump fired him in 2017 over his handling of the Russia investigation.