NORTH CAROLINA — Former FBI Director James Comey was indicted by a federal grand jury in North Carolina on Tuesday on charges of knowingly threatening President Donald Trump and transmitting a threat in interstate commerce. The two-count indictment stems from an Instagram post Comey shared in May of last year showing seashells arranged to form the number "8647."

Federal prosecutors have obtained an arrest warrant for Comey. Each count carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison or a fine, or both. After turning himself in, Comey will appear in court in North Carolina to enter a plea at a later date.

The original post depicted seashells on a beach arranged to read "86 47," with the caption "Cool shell formation on my beach walk." In US slang, "86" can mean to remove, reject, or throw something out. The number 47 is commonly understood to refer to Trump, who became the 47th US president after returning to office in January 2025. Trump and his supporters claim the numbers are a coded call for violence against the president.

Prosecutors wrote that a reasonable recipient familiar with the circumstances would interpret the photo as a serious expression of an intent to do harm to the President of the United States. Comey said he stumbled on the shell formation during a beach walk and did not arrange the shells himself, later deleting the post.

Comey has denied wrongdoing. "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," he said.

In a video posted on Substack titled "Seashells," Comey responded to the new indictment. "Nothing has changed with me. I am still innocent, I am still not afraid and I still believe in the independent federal judiciary. So let's go," he said.

Acting US Attorney General Todd Blanche defended the prosecution. "The new charges against Comey are absolutely, positively not politically motivated," Blanche said. "Of course, it's serious when you threaten the President of the United States," he added. Republican Senator Thom Tillis said, "There's more to it than just the picture in the sand."

This is the second time Comey has been indicted since Trump began his second term. Several months after the seashell post, Comey was charged in Virginia with making false statements to Congress and obstruction, accusations he denied. US District Judge Cameron Currie dismissed that case, ruling that the prosecutor overseeing it had not been lawfully appointed.