OAN Staff Brooke Mallory
Tuesday, April 28, 2026
UPDATE – 1:40 PM: Comey has been indicted on two federal charges.
According to the indictment, the primary focus of the charges involves:
- Threatening the President of the United States: The Justice Department argues that the post constituted a serious expression of intent to “take the life of, and to inflict bodily harm upon” President Donald Trump.
- Interstate Communication of a Threat: The indictment asserts that the public posting of the image on Instagram was a knowing and willful threat that a reasonable recipient would interpret as a call for violence.
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12:20 PM: The Department of Justice (DOJ) formally indicted former FBI Director James Comey for a second time, marking an escalation in the legal battles between the Trump administration and one of its most prominent critics, who has long been accused of making false statements to Congress, as well as obstructing a congressional proceeding.
However, the new charges, filed on Tuesday, reportedly stem from a controversial social media post Comey shared last year featuring seashells arranged on a beach to form the numbers “86 47.”
Federal prosecutors maintain that the social media image constituted a veiled threat against President Donald Trump, interpreting the slang term “86” — meaning to eject or eliminate — paired with “47,” a reference to the 47th president, as an incitement to violence or an unlawful threat.
This second legal action follows the collapse of an earlier indictment brought in September 2025.
That initial case, which accused Comey of making false statements and obstructing a congressional investigation regarding his 2020 testimony on media leaks, was dismissed by a Bill Clinton-appointed federal judge late last year.
The dismissal was based on a procedural ruling that the interim U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia at the time, Lindsey Halligan, had been “improperly appointed” to her role. Meanwhile, the Comey family also remains embroiled in separate legal disputes with the administration.
On the same day as the new indictment, a federal judge ruled that a wrongful termination lawsuit filed by Comey’s daughter, Maurene Comey, could proceed. Maurene, a former federal prosecutor, argues that she was fired from the DOJ last year as an “act of political retribution” against her father.
Her father, James, has also continuously maintained his innocence, previously arguing that the “86 47” photo was intended as a political message about the 2024 election and that he “opposes violence of any kind.”
Comey’s legal team has similarly labeled the ongoing prosecutions as politically motivated, claiming they represent a breach of long-standing norms intended to shield law enforcement and the judiciary from partisan pressure.
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