WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Washington, D.C., grand jury on Tuesday returned an indictment charging former FBI Director James Comey with threatening the life of the President of the United States. The indictment carries a maximum prison sentence of 10 years.

The charge stems from a photograph Comey posted in May 2025 showing seashells arranged on a North Carolina beach to form the numbers "8647." The Justice Department alleges that the seashell formation constituted a threat to take the life of the president. The Trump Justice Department had opened an investigation into the seashell post before bringing the case to a grand jury.

Comey deleted the post after receiving backlash from Republicans and members of Trump's family. He said in 2025 that he interpreted the shell formation as a purely political message. "I didn't realize some folks associate those numbers with violence," Comey wrote.

The slogan "8647" has appeared in TikTok posts and on protest signs to signal opposition to Donald Trump in the months after he took office. Among interpretations of the numbers, "86" can mean "to kill."

Following Tuesday's indictment, Comey responded in a video posted online. "I'm still innocent, I'm still not afraid, and I still believe in the independent federal judiciary, so let's go," he said.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche addressed how prosecutors would approach the case. "You prove intent with witnesses, with documents, with the defendant himself to the extent it's appropriate. And that's how we'll prove intent in this case," Blanche said. Asked about future cases similar to the Comey indictment, he declined to comment on other investigations. "As far as other incidents of threats against the president of the United States, those will be investigated," he said. "Every case is different, the facts are different, who makes the threat matters, what the threat says matters."

A few months before the new indictment, the Trump Justice Department had attempted to indict Comey over his 2020 congressional testimony. In November, a federal judge dismissed those charges, ruling that the prosecutor handling the case was unlawfully appointed.

Trump fired Comey in 2017, four years into Comey's 10-year term as FBI director. At the time of the firing, Comey was overseeing an investigation into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

Days before the new indictment, a gunman breached a security checkpoint at the White House Correspondents' Dinner in Washington and allegedly targeted administration officials. Trump has survived two previous assassination attempts.