The allegations stem from a social media post that was interpreted as a coded threat against the sitting US president<\/p>\n
A federal grand jury has indicted former FBI Director James Comey for making threats against US President Donald Trump, the Department of Justice announced on Tuesday.\u00a0If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in prison.
\nThe DOJ alleges that \u201ca reasonable recipient familiar with the circumstances\u201d would interpret Comey\u2019s May 2025 Instagram post, featuring seashells arranged in the sand to depict the numbers \u201c86 47,\u201d as \u201ca serious expression of an intent to do harm to the president of the United States.\u201d
\nCritics argued that \u201c86\u201d is slang for eliminating someone, and that Comey\u2019s post could be viewed as a call to kill Trump, who is serving as the 47th president.
\nComey denied the allegations at the time, saying that he \u201cdidn\u2019t realize some people associate those numbers with violence.\u201d He deleted the seashell post shortly after the backlash.<\/p>\n
Just James Comey causally calling for my dad to be murdered. This is who the Dem-Media worships. Demented!!!! pic.twitter.com\/4LUK6crHAT\u2014 Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) May 15, 2025 <\/p>\n
\u201cThreatening the life of the president of the United States is a grave violation of our nation\u2019s laws,\u201d Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said. \u201cThis country has witnessed violent incitement followed by deadly actions against President Trump and other elected officials,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
White House dinner gunman charged with attempted assassination of Trump<\/p>\n
The indictment came just days after a failed attempt to kill Trump at the White House Correspondents\u2019 Dinner in Washington, DC, on Saturday. Trump also survived two assassination attempts during his 2024 re-election campaign.\u00a0Both Republicans and Democrats have accused each other of incitement amid a wave of attacks on officials and activists.
\nComey, who led the FBI from 2013 to 2017 under former President Barack Obama, has often criticized Trump, whom he compared to a mob boss in his memoirs.\u00a0
\nLast year, a federal grand jury indicted Comey for lying to Congress, a charge later dismissed by a judge.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The allegations stem from a social media post that was interpreted as a coded threat against the sitting US president A federal grand jury has indicted former FBI Director James…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":34242,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t