DOJ indicts James Comey over anti-Trump seashell photo

The Department of Justice (DOJ) secured an indictment of former FBI Director James Comey Tuesday, this time charging him over a social media post last year involving a reference to President Donald Trump and seashells.

An indictment, approved by a grand jury in the Eastern District of North Carolina, charged Comey with one count of making threats against the president and another of transmitting those threats through interstate communications. Along with the indictment, the DOJ also received an arrest warrant for Comey, one of Trump’s longtime targets.

A previous politically-motivated case against the former FBI director failed after a court found that the Trump loyalist who brought it was unlawfully appointed.

“Well, they’re back,” Comey said in a video message published on his personal Substack following the indictment. “This time about a picture of seashells on a North Carolina beach a year ago. And this won’t be the end of it. But nothing has changed with me. I’m still innocent. I’m still not afraid. And I still believe in the independent federal judiciary, so let’s go.”  

The new case stems from an incident in North Carolina last May, when Comey published a photo of seashells arranged on the beach to read “86 47,” an anti-Trump slogan. When used as slang, “86” can mean to eject, dismiss or remove someone or something, while “47” refers to Trump being the 47th president.

After Comey posted the picture on social media, Trump officials and many of the president’s congressional allies claimed the former director was calling for the president’s assassination. In response, the Trump administration had Comey physically and digitally trailed, while the Secret Service also questioned the former FBI chief.

After removing the post, Comey said he assumed the seashells were a political message and didn’t realize that some associate “86” with political violence, which he denounced. 

In a press conference Tuesday, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche claimed that Comey’s post amounted to a threat against the president and likened his conduct to other unspecified threat cases recently brought by the DOJ in other parts of the country.

“While this case is unique and this indictment stands out because of the name of the defendant, his alleged conduct is the same kind of conduct that we will never tolerate,” Blanche said.

Asked how the DOJ would prove that Comey intended to make a threat given his removal of the post and apology, the acting attorney general said that the department would present witnesses, documents and “the defendant himself.”

Blanche also implied that the department would seize Comey’s electronic devices.

“There’s a communication, allegedly, that was sent in this case, so that means we have to look at devices,” he said.

The latest investigation into Comey has been overseen by W. Ellis Boyle, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina.

The case will likely run up against free speech protections. In its 1969 ruling in Watts v. U.S., the Supreme Court distinguished between actual threats to the president — which are prohibited by federal law — and protected, though crude and hyperbolic, political speech.

In his message on Substack, Comey issued a sharp rebuke of the DOJ for the politically motivated charges. “It’s really important that all of us remember: This is not who we are as a country. This is not how the Department of Justice is supposed to be,” he said. “And the good news is we get closer every day to restoring those values. Keep the faith.”

The new indictment against Comey comes just weeks after Trump elevated Todd Blanche, the president’s former personal defense attorney, as acting attorney general following the dismissal of Pam Bondi.

Trump fired Bondi, who represented him in his first impeachment trial, in part because he was frustrated with her failure to prosecute his political enemies aggressively enough.

Shortly after his elevation to acting attorney general, Blanche said he believes Trump has the “right” to order investigations into his political enemies. It was the clearest indication yet that the DOJ’s leadership views the department as the president’s personal law firm, and not as the politically impartial and independent law enforcement agency it has traditionally been. 

As part of his bid to lead the DOJ permanently, Blanche has aggressively pursued criminal cases against Trump’s enemies and progressive organizations in recent weeks.

Last week, the DOJ brought fraud charges against the Alabama-based Southern Poverty Law Center, a storied civil rights organization that’s investigated extremist organizations in the U.S. for decades.

This is a breaking news story. Please check back for additional details.