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James Comey Indicted Over Instagram Post
A federal grand jury indicted former FBI Director James Comey on charges related to an Instagram post depicting '86 47' in seashells, alleged to threaten President Trump. Comey surrendered to authorities and appeared in court without entering a plea. The case follows a dismissed prior indictment and draws from Trump's public calls for action against perceived foes.
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A federal grand jury in North Carolina indicted former FBI Director James Comey on Tuesday on charges of making threats against the president and successors, and transmitting a threat in interstate commerce. The charges stem from a since-deleted Instagram post showing the numbers '86 47' arranged in seashells on a North Carolina beach.
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Prosecutors allege the post constitutes a threat that a reasonable recipient familiar with the circumstances would interpret as a serious expression of intent to harm President Trump.
Comey surrendered to police on Wednesday and made an initial court appearance in the Eastern District of Virginia. He did not enter a plea during the appearance, where he was flanked by attorneys Jessica Carmichael and Patrick Fitzgerald. The court allowed Comey to leave without conditions for his release.
President Trump addressed the indictment in the Oval Office on Wednesday, stating, 'Probably. I don't know. You know, based on, based on what I'm seeing out there, yeah. Trump further explained, 'If anybody knows anything about, crime, they know 86 ...
It's a mob term for kill him, you know. Do you ever see the movies? '86 him,' the mobster says to one of his wonderful associates. The number '47' in the post refers to Donald Trump as the 47th president of the United States.
Comey posted a video to his Substack on Tuesday after the charges were announced, saying, 'This won’t be the end of it. But nothing has changed. I’m still innocent; I’m still not afraid. In a statement last year, Comey said, 'My family and I have known for years that there are costs to standing up to Donald Trump, but we couldn’t imagine ourselves living any other way.
