There are few people I despise more than James Comey, the former FBI Director who kneecapped Hillary Clinton just days before the 2016 election. While Comey is not the singular reason for Donald Trump, Comey absolutely bears some responsibility. What’s even stupider about that mess is that Trump hated Comey on sight, especially after Comey refused Trump’s mob-tactic requests. Trump ended up firing Comey in his first term, and in Trump’s second term, he’s been trying to criminally prosecute Comey for… something. Anything. Last fall, some DOJ moron indicted Comey on bullsh-t charges, charges which were quickly dismissed. Well, Trump’s DOJ is still pursuing and targeting Comey. Now Comey is being charged with “making a threat against the president.” The threat involved seashells and an Instagram post.
James B. Comey, the former F.B.I. director, was indicted on Tuesday over a social media post, signaling a renewed effort by the Justice Department to pursue charges against him after its bid last year ended in failure.
A federal grand jury in North Carolina charged Mr. Comey with making a threat against the president and transmitting a threat across state lines, according to court records.
The case, which centers on an image of seashells that Mr. Comey posted on Instagram, is the latest salvo in the department’s tortured efforts to satisfy the demands of President Trump to go after longtime targets of his wrath. Under the acting attorney general, Todd Blanche, the department has sought to accelerate Mr. Trump’s retribution campaign after the president fired Attorney General Pam Bondi, in part, over his dissatisfaction with her effectiveness in bringing cases against his perceived enemies.
Mr. Comey vowed to fight the case.
“I’m still innocent, I’m still not afraid and I still believe in the independent federal judiciary, so let’s go,” he said in a video statement posted online. Mr. Comey urged Americans to “keep the faith.”
The new Comey charge stems from an incident nearly a year ago, when the former F.B.I. director, vacationing on the North Carolina coast, posted a photograph on social media showing seashells arranged to say “86 47,” combining the slang term “86,” often used to mean dismiss or remove, with an apparent reference to Mr. Trump, the country’s 47th president.
After an uproar ensued over the post, Mr. Comey deleted it, saying that he did not know that it could be seen as having a violent connotation and that he opposed violence of any kind. Members of the administration, as well as Mr. Trump’s family, declared that the meaning of “86” was to kill, and that the seashell message amounted to a threat to assassinate the president.
Do you know the origin of “86”? While there are stories about a possible Prohibition-era origin story (something about a New York speakeasy with a back exit on 86th street), it’s generally believed to have a restaurant origin, meaning “to get rid of” or “to cancel.” As in, “we’re 86-ing that order” or “we 86ed that item on the menu.” It’s never meant “to kill someone.” It’s never been a call for assassination. Everyone knows this, and everyone knows that this is just the latest stupid “thing” for these people. Funnier still, Kash Patel held a press conference on Tuesday where he claimed that the FBI has been investigating the seashell post for eleven months. Brilliant deductive and investigative work, you guys! Terrific use of resources!
FBI Director Kash Patel explains how the criminal investigation into James Comey’s seashell post wasn’t a simple one: This has been a case that's been investigated over the past 9, 10, 11 months. These cases take time. Our investigators work methodically pic.twitter.com/QEJ4GnwnEK
— Acyn (@Acyn) April 28, 2026
Did the DOJ actually indict Comey again over a picture of seashells at the beach? Yes. Yes they did. pic.twitter.com/152ssfbR7J
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) April 28, 2026
Photos courtesy of Cover Images.
-
- -New York, NY – 20180418-James Comey Visits Today Show During Press Tour of his Book -PICTURED: James Comey -PHOTO by: JOHN NACION/startraksphoto.com This is an editorial, rights-managed image. Please contact Startraks Photo for licensing fee and rights information at sales@startraksphoto.com or call +1 212 414 9464 This image may not be published in any way that is, or might be deemed to be, defamatory, libelous, pornographic, or obscene. Please consult our sales department for any clarification needed prior to publication and use. Startraks Photo reserves the right to pursue unauthorized users of this material. If you are in violation of our intellectual property rights or copyright you may be liable for damages, loss of income, any profits you derive from the unauthorized use of this material and, where appropriate, the cost of collection and/or any statutory damages awarded Featuring: James Comey Where: New York, New York, United States When: 18 Apr 2018 Credit: JOHN NACION/startraksphoto.com
-
- -New York, NY – 20180418 – James Comey Signs Copies of A Higher Loyalty at Barnes & Noble -PICTURED: James Comey -PHOTO by: Jason Mendez/startraksphoto.com This is an editorial, rights-managed image. Please contact Startraks Photo for licensing fee and rights information at sales@startraksphoto.com or call +1 212 414 9464 This image may not be published in any way that is, or might be deemed to be, defamatory, libelous, pornographic, or obscene. Please consult our sales department for any clarification needed prior to publication and use. Startraks Photo reserves the right to pursue unauthorized users of this material. If you are in violation of our intellectual property rights or copyright you may be liable for damages, loss of income, any profits you derive from the unauthorized use of this material and, where appropriate, the cost of collection and/or any statutory damages awarded Featuring: James Comey Where: New York, New York, United States When: 18 Apr 2018 Credit: Jason Mendez/startraksphoto.com
Ugh, this a-hole. I don’t feel the least bit sorry for him. As FBI Director, Comey knew exactly what was in the Epstein Files. Yet, he still went against his own department’s decades-long policy and interfered in an election. And by putting party over country, he helped usher a malignant narcissist into a first term as Prez, one who has gotten progressively worse over the years, got elected a second time, and is a total catastrophe causing all manner of death and destruction. After that first election, Prez Jackass fired Comey and left him stranded in a different state and has been trying to destroy Comet ever since. This case will probably get thrown out of court like the others. However, I do feel sorry for his daughter Maureen, who was fired as US attorney last year and by all accounts, was an excellent prosecutor (she prosecuted Diddy). I hope she wins her lawsuit against the DOJ.
As much as I don’t like Comey, this is truly frightening in showing how the justice department has been corrupted.
Yeah, the difference between good people and the bad guys is that good people don’t celebrate or want justice to be twisted or perverted to punish the people we hate just so we can enjoy seeing them punished.
Trump and his acolytes think it’s awesome when people they hate — sometimes because they see them as enemies, but other times just because the people are friends of other people they hate — get prosecuted for crimes they didn’t commit because they want them to suffer.
I have no love lost for (and absolutely no use) for James Comey. But being okay with it happening to him (“because karma”) is how we open the door for it to happen to our friends, because everyone can find a reason they hate someone (sometimes more justified than others). A false, selective, harassing, or punitive prosecution of someone who doesn’t deserve it is never okay in my book. Not because I don’t get why it feels good see someone get their “karma” but because I have to stay better than the other side. They truly win if they convince us authoritarianism is okay for America–as long as it’s your authoritarian. And I won’t let them win.
Comey definitely sucks and he personally owns a lot of blame for our current situation, but this definitely isn’t right.
After he (and his ghostwriter?) wrote his book, it pissed me off every time I saw it in a bookstore.
I remember when Democratic Party purists were calling Foul!!! on President Biden for giving his son, Hunter, an unconditional pardon before he left office. I said then there were two words that completely justified President Biden’s reversal of his pledge – KASH PATEL.
And yet the moralistic Democratic Party purists still criticized me, pooh-poohing my perfectly reasonable concerns about KASH PATEL. Idiots. I still hear the moralistic screeching about the need for purity from Democratic Party candidates, even castigating President Biden.!!?! wtf. Idiots. Moralistic idiots.
They investigated an Instagram photo of seashells for 11 months. For an entire year, basically. These unserious people.
Come on now, surely you must admit that these seashells were threatening — somehow. I mean, from the serpent-like curvature of the first number 8 to the sharp-edged 7. There are SO many ways to hurt oneself with those seashells. It truly runs the gamut between blunt force injury to sharp force injury, and my God the sunburn potential!
Well, when the FBI Director is a paranoid, drunken, incompetent boob who flies around the world injecting himself into others’ accomplishments, they can’t exactly plow through the cases in record time.
I’m sure it wasn’t easy to schedule the seashell expert.
No one likes Comey, hell I don’t think Comey likes himself, but this is unbelievable and a ridiculous waste of tax payers money and the courts time. How can an “investigation” last 9, 10 11 months on a Insta post? What was being investigated?
I HATE this timeline! And Comey is one of the major reasons we are living in it.
While I don’t pity Comey, this is just more petty partisan retribution from Trump, using the DOJ as his personal lawyer. In addition to being another violation of the integrity of the DOJ, it’s just embarrassing at this point. The Guardian’s headline on this is, “Justice Dept indicts ex-FBI director James Comey over Instagram post showing seashells”. It would be funny if it wasn’t real life.
In more toxic Trump partisanship news: The Supreme Court just finished gutting the Voting Rights Act, ruling against its Section 2, which prevents racial discrimination in voting by ensuring that minorities have to be treated fairly in redistricting.
And Trump just invited the 6 Right Wing Supreme Court justices to the big White House dinner for King Charles, but not 3 Progressives. The pettiness never ends.
This is obvious malicious prosecution that should have never seen the light of day. I wonder whether ol boy ever regrets his Buttery Males bullshit now that the leopards are eating his face.
It’s a slippery slope if we only care about the civil rights of people we like. This is clearly dangerous vindictive nonsense. 86=‘nix’. This should be thrown out of court.
So. I’m in two minds about this. One: Comey is a smug, self-aggrandising, attention-seeking, megalomaniac POS who wilfully threw an election within days of the balloting in a brazen show of political interference when his job required precisely the opposite. And the fact that his target was a woman is simply disgusting. He did the same thing with Martha Stewart that he did with Hilary: he ruined her career, her business, destroyed her reputation and her credibility with investors and clients, and all for what??? She was never convicted of insider trading. She never had inside information. She “lied to the FBI” ….which is not illegal, AFAIK. He was just a sordid little Inspector Javert on a power trip. And his victims are all women. The fact that Trump is the one to take him down is ….chef’s kiss. He probably voted Republican his whole life, anyway. He’s the paradigmatic privileged white man who believes the system is only working if it’s working for him.
👏👏👏
🎯
Still, it’s a dangerous precedent.
Glad to see Comey getting harassed by the monster he helped create. Not happy to see the weaponization of DOJ. But maybe we can use this when the Democrats win back power. If this goes through, then Sarah Palin needs to be indicted for inciting the assassination attempt of Gabby Giffords. Also, am I the only one who understood 86 to mean “boot out”? The 8 is the bottom of a boot and the 6 is a person (the victim of the boot)? So unless someone kicked dear leader’s festering bottom, I don’t see how this is even a chargeable offense.
We no longer have a Department of Justice. We have a Department of Revenge against people trump wants destroyed.
Two little petty bishes Trump and Comey going at each other, LOL. Comey thought he was untouchable, LOL. Serves him right that little petty man-child Trump is harassing Comey. Karma is a bish baby, it always finds where the evil folks hide away.
But to Trump and his stoopid GOP, good luck with nailing Comey. 8647 could mean a gazillion of thing, it could be 1986/April 7th, non?
Well, Comey started an investigation into Hillary about her emails days before the election, so I don’t have too much sympathy for him. Also, the Republican D.O.J. investigated a legitimate and important Democratic fundraising source, Act Blue, in a 457 page bogus report about “fraud.” So the rethugs are trying to starve the Democratic Party and Democratic states of money bc of vindictive partisanship, the like of which has never been seen before. Oh😕, remember when unstrung Trump said the Republican party should run federal elections, against the laws of the Constitution? Keep donating to Act Blue bc they are trying to turn the Congress Democratic, as they have every right and duty to do so. Please.
Also, clearly Comey started an investigation against Hillary a few days before the election, a clear sign of support for Trump IMO. And his assertion did hurt her campaign. So why is Trump so vindictive towards Comey?
He’ll be fine.
Comey walked himself into that courtroom drama.
I’ve had cantankerous bosses who look for anything wrong that they can find. I had to think about how something would land on before I said anything. It is simply what you have to do until the boss moves on.