EASTERN DISTRICT OF NORTH CAROLINA — The Department of Justice announced a two-count felony indictment against former FBI Director James Comey on Tuesday in connection with an Instagram post he made in May 2025. A federal grand jury in the Eastern District of North Carolina returned the indictment over Comey's alleged threats against President Donald Trump.

The only potential threat mentioned in the three-page indictment was a photo Comey posted on Instagram showing seashells arranged on a beach to form "86 47." The Justice Department said the seashells photo was a threat to kill the president. The number 86 is shorthand for getting rid of something.

Acting United States Attorney General Todd Blanche defended the indictment in a televised interview. "Rest assured that it's not just the Instagram post that leads somebody to get indicted. You prove intent with witnesses, you prove intent with documents, with materials," Blanche said.

He said career prosecutors and law enforcement officials had investigated the matter. "Rest assured that the career assistant United States attorneys in North Carolina, the career FBI agents, the career Secret Service agents that investigated this case didn't just look at the Instagram post and walk away," he said. He added that grand jury proceedings limited what he could disclose: "So I am not permitted to get into the details of what the grand jury heard or found, as you know."

Addressing the timing of the charges, Blanche said: "That's why you saw an indictment last week, notwithstanding the fact that it was last May that the post was made." On the role of the photo in the case, he said: "Every one of those statements do not result in indictments. Of course, the sea shells are part of that case." He also said the evidence would be made public at trial: "At the trial, a public trial, that will be open to the public, everybody in this country will know exactly what evidence the government has against Mr Comey."

Comey deleted the Instagram post, apologized, and said he did not know what the expression meant and condemned violence. He said he does not associate the number 86 with violence but with the hospitality business, where it has been used for decades to refer to barring a customer or removing something from a menu. Comey has said he is innocent and denies any wrongdoing. A previous criminal case against him in Virginia was dismissed last year.

Republican Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina questioned the basis of the prosecution. "If this whole case is based on a picture in the sand of a North Carolina beach, it again makes no sense to me. It better be more than just the picture. There have to be facts and circumstances beyond that to convince me," Tillis said.

Democratic Senator Adam Schiff of California predicted the case would not succeed. "I think this case is likely to be thrown out even before it goes to a jury. It will absolutely be thrown out by a jury," Schiff said.