Former FBI director James Comey indicted for threatening Trump with '86 47' social media post

James Comey.

A federal grand jury in North Carolina on Tuesday indicted James Comey, the former FBI director who served in the role under President Obama and for the first five months of President Trump's first term until he was fired in May 2017, over a threatening post he made on social media last year. A warrant for Comey's arrest has been issued.

According to a statement from the Justice Department, the charges focus on a social media post Comey, 65, made last year that seemingly called for the assassination of President Trump, who at that time had been the subject of two assassination attempts. [A third assassination attempt against Trump was made over the weekend.]

The grand jury found Comey "knowingly and willfully made a threat to take the life of, and to inflict bodily harm upon the President of the United States." He's facing two counts in the case and a total of 20 years in prison if convicted on both counts. A warrant is out for Comey's arrest.

The disgraced former FBI director posted a photo of seashells in the sand arranged to show the number "86 47." The number was widely interpreted as the number 86 being a directive to get rid of something, taken from restaurant parlance, and 47, a reference to President Trump, the nation's 47th president. Comey wrote, "Cool shell formation on my beach walk," in the caption on Instagram. 

Comey later deleted the post amid a swift backlash and offered a convoluted story about how he and his wife merely happened upon the formation while walking on the beach. That story was delivered, not surprisingly, on Stephen Colbert's late-night show, which, shortly after the fact, CBS decided to cancel at the end of May 2026. "Somebody else did it," Comey insisted, admitting he had a new book coming out that week. 

At the time, Dave Rubin pointed out how contrived the story was, and how accommodating Colbert was in laundering what was an obvious public lie by a former FBI director who posted a threat to the sitting President of the United States.  

The Secret Service also interview Comey about the post. He told agents he saw the shells on a beach in North Carolina. President Trump said he didn't buy Comey's explanation at the time. “He knew exactly what that meant. A child knows what that meant. If you’re the FBI director and you don’t know what that meant, that meant assassination. And it says it loud and clear,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News last year. Trump added that Comey was "a dirty cop."

In March, Dave addressed in the Sunday edition of his newsletter how abnormal a figure James Comey has been, not only while he was leading the FBI and pushing the debunked Steele Dossier narrative, but with an ever-expanding series of strange antics since he no longer works for the federal government.

This is the second time Comey has faced a federal indictment over the last year. A judge dismissed the indictment brought last September, which charged Comey with obstruction of justice.

Below, watch a clip of Acting Attorney General Todd Blance discussing the charges.