James Comey indicted over 2025 social media post allegedly threatening Trump TDS paranoia

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2026/04/28/james-comey-indicted-second-time-by-justice-department/?utm_source=email&utm_medium=acq&utm_campaign=RH-ACQ&utm_content=dtpannual_20260428_RH&campaign_id=17894969

Former FBI director James B. Comey has been indicted on allegations that a photo he posted on social media in 2025 constituted a dangerous threat to the president.

The two charges stem from a photo that Comey posted online showing seashells on a beach that were arranged to write out “86 47.” Trump is the 47th president; “86” can mean banning or removing someone, but it can also be slang for killing a person. Comey quickly removed the post after receiving criticism that the phrase could be used to communicate the threat of violence.

The three-page indictment states that the seashells were “arranged in a pattern making out ‘86 47’, which a reasonable recipient who is familiar with the circumstances would interpret as a serious expression of an intent to do harm to the President of the United States.”

Comey has suggested that he stumbled on the shell formation during a walk along the beach and did not arrange the shells himself. There is generally a high legal threshold to charge someone with threatening a person based on their language, and legal experts said it would be tough for the Justice Department to build a strong case with just the seashells.

At a news conference Tuesday afternoon, acting attorney general Todd Blanche sidestepped questions about what evidence prosecutors have that Comey intended to actually hurt the president — an aspect of a threat case that prosecutors would typically need to prove to secure a conviction.

When Erik S. Siebert, the Trump-appointed interim U.S. attorney who led the office before Halligan, concluded that the evidence was insufficient to charge, Trump forced him out of his job.