A federal grand jury in the Eastern District of North Carolina indicted former FBI Director James Comey on two counts of threatening to harm President Donald Trump. The charges carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison each.
The indictment, returned on 28 April, centres on an Instagram post Comey shared in 2025 showing seashells arranged on a North Carolina beach to spell “86 47.” Prosecutors allege the numbers constitute a death threat: “86” is slang for “get rid of,” and “47” is a reference to Trump as the 47th president.
Why it matters
This is the second attempt by the Trump-era Justice Department to prosecute Comey, a prominent critic of the president. A federal judge dismissed the first indictment in November 2025. The case tests the boundary between political expression and criminal threats under federal law.
The prosecution’s argument
According to the Department of Justice, Comey “knowingly and willfully” transmitted a threat to kill the president in interstate commerce. The indictment alleges the post was intended to threaten bodily harm and was understood as such by a reasonable audience. Prosecutors note the post reached millions through social media and news coverage.
Comey’s defence
Comey has said he did not realise some people associate “86 47” with violence. He told reporters at the time that he assumed the seashell arrangement was “a political message” and removed the post after learning of the interpretation. His lawyers have argued the prosecution is retaliatory and that the post is protected political speech under the First Amendment.
The free speech debate
Civil liberties organisations, including the ACLU, have warned that prosecuting ambiguous social media posts sets a dangerous precedent. Legal scholars are divided. Some argue that the slang meaning of “86” is too vague to meet the legal standard for a “true threat.” Others contend that context, including Comey’s public profile and the size of his audience, makes the post more threatening than an identical message from a private citizen.
The case arrives alongside the FCC’s separate challenge to ABC’s broadcast licences over late-night host Jimmy Kimmel’s commentary about the president, raising broader questions about the administration’s posture toward critical speech.
What happens next
Comey is expected to be arraigned within weeks. His legal team has signalled it will move to dismiss the indictment on First Amendment grounds, as it did successfully the first time. The case could eventually reach the Supreme Court if lower courts split on whether the post meets the legal threshold for a criminal threat.