Former FBI Director Comey Surrenders Over Charge of Threatening Trump’s Life With Seashells

Kayla Epsteinand and Madeline Halpert / BBC / April 29, 2026

Former FBI Director James Comey surrendered to authorities on Wednesday to face a charge alleging that an image he briefly shared on social media posed a threat to the life of President Donald Trump.

It stems from an Instagram post shared by Comey, which contained a photo of seashells on a beach arranged to read “86 47”. “Eighty-six” is a slang term for “get rid of”, and prosecutors allege it encourages violence against Trump, the 47th president.

Comey denies any wrongdoing, saying he did not know what the numbers meant, and accused the prosecution of political motivation.

This marks the second time the justice department has brought criminal charges against Comey, a longtime critic of Trump.

Comey did not enter a plea or speak during his brief appearance at a Virginia court on Wednesday afternoon.

His attorney, Patrick Fitzgerald, said the former director would seek dismissal on grounds of selective and vindictive prosecution – arguing he was targeted for speaking out against Trump.

Judge William Fitzpatrick read the charges against Comey, who nodded as he was read his rights and later smiled back at his family when he was leaving, the BBC’s US partner CBS News reported.

Judge Fitzpatrick denied the justice department’s efforts to set conditions of release for Comey, saying they were not necessary, according to CBS.
Prosecutors have charged Comey with knowingly and wilfully making a threat to take the life of – and to inflict bodily harm – on the president, and also, knowingly transmitting in interstate commerce a threat to kill him.

Each charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.

Comey’s original post from May 2025 contained an image of the seashells on a beach that spelled out “86 47”, with the caption, “Cool shell formation on my beach walk”.

Following a public outcry, Comey deleted the image and posted a follow-up note on Instagram.

“I posted earlier a picture of some shells I saw today on a beach walk, which I assume were a political message,” he wrote. “I didn’t realize some folks associate those numbers with violence. It never occurred to me, but I oppose violence of any kind so I took the post down.”

Asked about the charges against Comey on Wednesday, Trump called him a “crooked man”.

“If anybody knows anything about crime, they know 86,” Trump said, referencing the photo. “It’s a mob term for kill him.”

On Wednesday, Attorney General Todd Blanche said the new charges against Comey were “absolutely, positively not” politically motivated.

“Of course, it’s serious when you threaten the president of the United States,” Blanche told CBS News. “Anybody that tries to put forward some narrative that this is just about seashells, or something to the contrary is missing the point. You cannot threaten the president of the United States.”

Blanche also referenced Saturday’s attack at the White House Correspondents Association Dinner, in which a man charged towards the ballroom where Trump was in attendance before US Secret Service stopped him.

Some legal experts – and lawmakers – have cast doubt on the strength of the case.

Republican Senator Thom Tillis told reporters on Wednesday that he hoped “there’s more to it than just the picture in the sand”.

“Otherwise, I just think it’s another example where we’re going to regret this because we’re setting a fairly low bar,” he said.

Jimmy Gurulé, a former federal prosecutor and former assistant US Attorney General appointed by President George W Bush, said the new indictment was “an embarrassment to the American criminal justice system”.

In his second term, President Trump has publicly implied that justice department officials should investigate his political adversaries.
Comey was fired by Trump during his first term, after the former FBI director opened an investigation into Russian interference in the US 2016 presidential election.

Since then, Trump has repeatedly called for his prosecution – Tuesday’s charges are the administration’s second attempt to do so.

He was first indicted by a federal grand jury in late September on charges that he lied to Congress during a testimony and obstructed a congressional proceeding.

Comey pleaded not guilty in October before the case was dismissed in November.

US District Judge Cameron Currie tossed the indictment because of prosecutor Lindsey Halligan’s “invalid” appointment as US attorney.

Halligan, the prosecutor in eastern Virginia who secured the indictments, was not authorised to present the charges to the grand jury, the judge said.