A federal grand jury returned a two-count indictment against former FBI Director James Comey on April 28, 2026, charging him with threatening the president and transmitting a threat in interstate commerce [1]. The charges arise from an Instagram post Comey published last May depicting seashells arranged to spell "86 47," a phrase prosecutors contend constituted a threat against President Trump's life [1][2]. Comey appeared in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia shortly after the indictment was unsealed [2].
The two charges draw on federal statutes criminalizing threats against the president and the interstate transmission of threatening communications. Comey's legal team has signaled it will move to dismiss the indictment on vindictive-prosecution grounds, arguing the government selectively targeted Comey because of his history with Trump [2]. The defense theory will require the court to assess whether the prosecution was initiated for legitimate law-enforcement reasons or as retaliation for Comey's prior conduct as FBI director, including his handling of investigations that touched Trump directly.
The indictment marks the second time the Trump-era Justice Department has brought federal charges against Comey [1]. The government's position is that "86," a slang term understood in some contexts to mean killing or eliminating a person, combined with "47," a reference to Trump as the 47th president, crossed the line from political expression into criminal threat [1][2]. Comey has publicly denied any intent to threaten the president, characterizing the post as a reference to the natural patterns of shells on a beach [1]. The case is assigned to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.
The First Amendment dimension is likely to dominate early motion practice. Courts evaluating threat prosecutions under federal law apply an objective standard asking whether a reasonable person would interpret the communication as a serious expression of intent to commit violence, a test that gives substantial room for argument over context and meaning. A vindictive-prosecution claim, if pursued, would require Comey to demonstrate both that the government was motivated by a retaliatory purpose and that he was singled out from similarly situated persons. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche and outside counsel Patrick Fitzgerald are among the figures identified in connection with the matter [1][2].
A motion to dismiss is expected to be filed in the coming weeks. The outcome of that motion will determine whether the case proceeds to trial or becomes an early test of the limits on prosecutorial authority over political speech directed at a sitting president [2].
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