Photo: Michael M. Santiago / Getty Images News / Getty Images
James Comey, the former director of the FBI, has been indicted for the second time by the Justice Department, this time over a social media photo of seashells that administration officials say constituted a threat against President Donald Trump.
The indictment stems from a photo Comey posted last May showing shells arranged on a beach to read "86 47." The specific charge or charges against Comey have not yet been made public, nor has the district where the case was filed.
The number 86 is widely used as slang meaning to get rid of, eject, or remove something. Merriam-Webster notes that a more recent, though sparsely used, extension of the slang can also mean "to kill."
President Trump is the 47th president of the United States.
When Comey posted the photo, he captioned it simply: "Cool shell formation on my beach walk." He told Secret Service investigators he spotted the shells during a walk on a beach in North Carolina.
Kristi Noem, then-serving as Secretary of Homeland Security, announced that Comey would be investigated by the Secret Service, calling the post a call "for the assassination" of President Trump.
The Secret Service brought Comey in for a hours-long interview in Washington, D.C., an uncommon step for the agency in response to a non-specific threat.
Comey removed the post the same day it was published. In a follow-up statement, he wrote: "I assumed it was a political message but 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."
This is the second criminal case the Justice Department has brought against Comey. He was first indicted in September of last year on charges that he lied to and obstructed Congress related to 2020 testimony about whether he had authorized inside information about an investigation to be shared with a journalist. That case was dismissed after a federal judge ruled that the prosecutor who brought the indictment had been improperly appointed, having bypassed Senate confirmation.
The new indictment follows the elevation of Todd Blanche, President Trump's former personal defense attorney, to acting attorney general, after Trump fired Pam Bondi, in part due to frustration that she had not pursued his political opponents aggressively enough. Shortly after taking the role, Blanche said he believes President Trump has the "right" to order investigations into his political adversaries.
Comey was appointed FBI director by President Barack Obama and was serving in that role when President Trump took office in 2017. Trump fired him in May of that year, amid an FBI investigation into potential ties between Russia and the Trump campaign. That investigation was later taken over by special counsel Robert Mueller, who ultimately found that while Russia interfered in the 2016 election, there was insufficient evidence to establish criminal coordination.
Since his firing, Comey has been a vocal critic of President Trump. The Justice Department is also separately pursuing a criminal investigation into former CIA Director John Brennan, another central figure in the Russia investigation.
Comey's attorneys declined to comment. His lawyer did not immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday (April 28).