A federal grand jury in North Carolina has indicted former FBI Director James Comey over a controversial Instagram post from last year that President Donald Trump and members of his administration claimed posed a threat to the president, sources told ABC News.
In a renewal of efforts to prosecute a longtime Trump foe, Justice Department prosecutors brought the case after a judge last year dismissed an indictment against Comey on unrelated charges.
The new indictment centers on a controversy that erupted nearly a year ago when Comey, in a since-deleted Instagram post, shared a photo showing the numbers “86 47” written on seashells at the beach with the caption “Awesome shell formation on my beach walk.”
Citing the colloquial meaning of “86” in relation to “nix” or “to get rid of” something, the president’s allies claimed the post was a veiled threat against Trump, and the Department of Homeland Security and the Secret Service quickly launched investigations into the posts.
Comey’s attorneys had no immediate response to news of the indictment when reached by ABC News.
CNN was the first to report the indictment.
Plaintiffs will likely face a high legal hurdle to prove that an Instagram post constitutes a “credible threat,” which the Supreme Court found in 2023 requires showing an individual understood its message to be a threat. With the phrase “86 47” increasingly adopted by protesters in the Trump administration, the issue could carry sweeping implications for the First Amendment.
The screenshot shows a social media post made by James Comey in May 2025.
@Comi/Instagram
When asked about the post last year, Trump suggested that Comey should be prosecuted over the post, which Trump claimed was a call to “assassinate the president.”
“He knew exactly what that meant. The kid knows what that means. If you’re the director of the FBI and you don’t know what that means, it means assassination. And he says it loud and clear,” Trump told Fox News last year.
At the time, Trump said he would leave the decision to charge Comey up to then-Attorney General Pam Bondi, despite his insistence that Comey was a “dirty cop.”
“When you add his history to that… he’s a dirty cop,” Trump said. “If he had a clean history, I could understand if there was leniency, but I would let them make that decision.”
After backlash to the post, Comey removed the photo from Instagram and said he was not aware the post might be linked to violence.
Former FBI Director James Comey speaks during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington on June 8, 2017.
Andrew Harnick/AP
“Earlier I posted a picture of some shells I saw today while out on the beach, and I assumed it was a political message,” Comey said on May 15. “I didn’t realize that some people associate those numbers with violence. It never occurred to me but I oppose violence of any kind, so I removed the post.”
This post sparked swift criticism from the Trump administration and White House staff a description The post is “deeply troubling” and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard calls for Comey to be imprisoned.
“In my view, James Comey should be held accountable and put behind bars for this,” Gabbard told Fox News.
Comey is not the first public figure to face opposition for invoking the number “86.” Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer drew criticism in 2020 for appearing during a television interview with a figurine of the numbers “86 45” on a table behind her, and similar references to “86 46” have appeared online during Joe Biden’s presidency.
Comey was indicted last year on unrelated charges for allegedly lying to Congress and obstructing testimony before the US Senate Judiciary Committee in 2020. Comey’s lawyers moved to dismiss the indictment, arguing that the case was politically motivated and that the grand jury never saw the charges in their entirety, which was the case. It was ultimately dismissed due to issues regarding the legitimacy of the prosecutor who brought the case.
“I know Donald Trump will probably come after me again, and my position will be the same,” Comey said in a video posted on social media after the previous indictment was dropped in November. “I am innocent. I am not afraid, and I believe in an independent federal judiciary — a gift given by our Founders that protects us from a would-be tyrant.”
The new indictment comes as the Justice Department in recent weeks has ramped up investigations into some of Trump’s political enemies under the leadership of acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, who heads the Justice Department after Trump’s ouster of Pam Bondi.
Earlier this month, the Justice Department removed a top prosecutor from a controversial investigation in Florida after sources told ABC News she expressed concerns about hasty efforts to bring criminal charges against former CIA Director John Brennan.
Prosecutors in April also indicted the Southern Poverty Law Center — repeatedly criticized by conservatives for its assessments of hate groups — on bank fraud and money laundering charges related to paying informants to infiltrate such groups. The organization denied committing all violations.
