As king charles address to congress drew attention in Washington, the Department of Justice indicted former FBI Director James Comey for a second time over a social media post he made last year. The new case centers on an Instagram image of seashells arranged to spell “86 47,” a post Comey later deleted.
Comey captioned the image, “Cool shell formation on my beach walk.” Critics read the numbers as a threat against Donald Trump, while Comey said in an interview with MSNBC that he “thought nothing more of it” until his wife told him people were reading it as a call for assassination.
Comey, Trump, and the post
Trump said in an interview with that Comey knew “exactly what that meant,” adding: “A child knows what that meant.” Trump also said, “If you’re the FBI director and you don’t know what that meant, that meant assassination.” He added, “And it says it loud and clear.”
Kristi Noem, the former Homeland Security Secretary, said Comey should be investigated by the Secret Service for what she described as a call “for the assassination” of Trump. The case places a former FBI director back in federal court over a post that became politically charged after it spread online.
September indictment, November dismissal
Comey had already faced a separate federal case in September, when he was indicted on charges that he lied to and obstructed Congress. That case stemmed from 2020 testimony about whether Comey authorized the release of information about an investigation to a journalist, and Comey denied wrongdoing.
A judge dismissed that earlier case in November after ruling that the prosecutor had been illegally appointed. Trump fired Comey in 2017 during his first term amid an FBI investigation into potential ties between Russia and Trump’s presidential campaign.
Second federal case against Comey
This week’s indictment gives the Justice Department a second federal legal action against Comey, and it does so over a short Instagram post that his critics say carried a violent message. For Comey, the immediate consequence is another legal fight tied to a single image and caption; for Trump, the post remains the point at the center of his public accusation that Comey understood the meaning.
The practical next step is the new case itself, now moving through the federal process after the dismissal of the earlier indictment. Comey’s own description of the post, Trump’s claim about its meaning, and Noem’s call for a Secret Service investigation leave the dispute focused on one question already lodged in public view: what the numbers on the beach were meant to say.
