Grand jury adds seashell‑photo‑related charge to Comey indictment

The new thing here is not just internet outrage. It’s a federal indictment. On April 28, a grand jury in the Eastern District of North Carolina charged former FBI Director James Comey over a May 15, 2025 Instagram post showing seashells arranged as “86 47.” Prosecutors say that image threatened President Donald Trump, the 47th president. Comey says it was a political message, not a violent one, and that he deleted it once he saw how some people were reading it. ### What exactly did the grand jury charge? Two counts. One is under the federal law that bans threats against the president. The other is for transmitting a threatening communication in interstate commerce — basically, sending the alleged threat over the internet. The Justice Department says it was a serious expression of intent to harm Trump. ### Why are “86” and “47” doing so much work? Because the whole case hangs on interpretation. “47” is the easy part — Trump is the 47th president. “86” is the fight. It can mean “get rid of,” “throw out,” or “nix.” Prosecutors are treating that slang, in this context, as a coded call for violence. It is the case. ### Why does intent matter so much? Because threatening-speech cases are not just about whether people got upset. The government usually has to show that the defendant meant to communicate a true threat, or at least recklessly ignored a serious risk that others would understand it that way. The indictment uses that language, and analysts think the Justice Department has a real hill to climb. ### Didn’t Comey already go to court? Yes — but only for an initial appearance. On April 29, Comey surrendered in Alexandria, Virginia, where he lives. He did not enter a plea, and the judge released him without special conditions. His lawyers signaled they plan to seek dismissal and argue selective or vindictive prosecution. The actual merits fight is still ahead. ### Why is North Carolina involved? Because that is where the beach photo was allegedly taken and where the grand jury sat. Venue matters in federal cases, and prosecutors tied the post to the Eastern District of North Carolina for that reason. The first appearance happened in Virginia only because that is where Comey was available to surrender. ### Is this a straightforward threat case? Not really. A direct message saying “I will kill X” is the clean version of this law. A photo of shells with slang numerals is the messy version. It’s more like prosecuting a wink and a code phrase than a plainspoken threat. That does not make prosecution impossible, but it does make the First Amendment questions much sharper. ### So what matters next? The next big question is whether prosecutors can produce evidence that narrows the ambiguity — private messages, surrounding statements, or anything else that makes the image look less like political symbolism and more like a real threat. If they cannot, the case will turn on symbolic online speech. ### Bottom line? This is now a real federal case, not just a viral argument. But turns out the hard part is the same thing that made the post explode online in the first place — whether “86 47” is an actual threat or an ugly, ambiguous piece of political speech.