The Justice Department has taken a bold step, issuing an arrest warrant for former FBI Director James Comey on Tuesday. The indictment claims that Comey, a vocal critic of Donald Trump, made a threat against the president—expressed in an unusual medium: seashells arranged on a North Carolina beach.
The controversy ignited from a social media post where Comey displayed seashells spelling out “86 47.” The first number is interpreted as slang for eliminating someone, while the second is believed to reference Trump, who served as the 47th president during his second term.
Prosecutors from the Justice Department asserted in their indictment that this message constituted “a serious expression of an intent to do harm to the president of the United States.”
In May, Comey was questioned by Secret Service agents after Trump’s team alleged that his post incited calls for the president's assassination. Shortly after posting, Comey deleted the image, stating, “I didn’t realize some folks associate those numbers with violence” and emphasized his opposition to violence.
Since leaving the FBI, Comey has emerged as a prominent critic of Trump, a relationship that soured during the investigations into the 2016 Trump campaign's alleged connections with Russian officials.
Trump's animosity towards Comey has persisted for years. Following his inauguration in 2025, Trump directed the Department of Justice to pursue criminal charges against Comey and others who have opposed him, including New York Attorney General Letitia James.
“This won’t be the end of it. But nothing has changed. I’m still innocent; I’m still not afraid. I still believe in an independent justice system,” Comey stated in a video posted on his Substack after the charges were made public.
Attorney General Pam Bondi led this initiative at the DOJ before her dismissal earlier this month. The recent developments indicate that her successor, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, will continue this aggressive approach.
Last year, the DOJ charged Comey with allegedly lying to Congress about whether he authorized leaks regarding investigations into Trump's 2016 campaign and Hillary Clinton’s private email server. Those charges were denied by Comey and did not proceed to trial.
A judge dismissed that case last fall, ruling that Lindsey Halligan, a former White House staffer overseeing the Eastern District, was illegally appointed, rendering her prosecutorial actions unlawful.
“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,” Comey remarked last year following his initial indictment. “We will not live on our knees and you shouldn’t either.”
He expressed sorrow for the state of the Department of Justice in light of these events.
Trump’s public calls for action against Comey preceded the initial indictment. In a post on Truth Social, he urged Bondi to initiate indictments—a move unprecedented for a sitting president and one that led to resignations among senior prosecutors at the Eastern District.
“Pam: I have reviewed over 30 statements and posts saying that, essentially, ‘same old story as last time, all talk, no action. Nothing is being done. What about Comey, Adam ‘Shifty’ Schiff, Leticia??? They’re all guilty as hell, but nothing is going to be done,’” Trump wrote in September 2025.
Comey was subsequently indicted for allegedly making false statements to Congress that same month.
Law enforcement officials confirmed that Comey was interviewed by Secret Service agents regarding his seashell post as early as May last year. The delay between the post and the indictment suggests initial hesitance to pursue the case, which later shifted.
At a press conference on Tuesday afternoon, Blanche asserted that the investigation into Comey and the decision to file charges was not impulsive. “On or about May 15 of last year, [James Comey] knowingly and willfully made a threat to take the life of and to inflict bodily harm upon the president of the United States,” he told reporters while addressing inquiries about the strength of their case.
“A lot of these cases... they’re not easy cases,” Blanche noted, highlighting challenges posed by Comey's former position as FBI director and his communications with legal counsel that complicated evidence collection.
Blanche refrained from confirming whether there was concrete evidence indicating Comey's intent to harm the president. “You cannot threaten to kill the president of the United States. Full stop,” he stated firmly.
On May 16 of last year, then-DHS Secretary Kristi Noem tweeted about federal agents interviewing Comey regarding his social media post. Noem was removed from her position by Trump nearly two months ago.
A month after Comey's post was deleted, the Justice Department terminated Maurene Comey, James Comey's daughter, who had been serving as a prosecutor in New York. She reported not receiving any explanation for her dismissal.
