James Comey Indicted in North Carolina Over 86 47 Post
James Comey was indicted in North Carolina over an image of “86 47” spelled out in beach shells that he posted to X, then later removed. The case turns on whether the post can be treated as a true threat under federal law, a standard the Justice Department would need to meet to convict him.
Comey’s Shell Post
Comey, the former FBI director and defendant, told viewers of the post through his account to more than 1 million followers that he did not make the shell art. He posted the image on X and later took it down.
Some people read the shell message as a call to kill or “86” Donald Trump. That reading now sits at the center of the indictment, which was brought in North Carolina because that is where the beach and the shells were found.
North Carolina Indictment
The new indictment came after a court dismissed Comey’s first indictment in November following a challenge to the status of the acting U.S. attorney. The Justice Department now has to prove the shell post meets the federal definition of a true threat under 18 U.S.C. § 871 and 18 U.S.C. § 875(c).
The legal question reaches beyond this image. The article notes that citizens are allowed to denounce a president and even wish one ill, and it points to Watts v. United States, the 1969 Supreme Court case that dealt with a presidential threat charge.
Watts v. United States
The Supreme Court in 1969 said “what is a threat must be distinguished f” in the Watts case, a line cited in the article to show why the government faces a narrow path here. Comey’s post and the indictment now place that line between speech and threat at the center of the case.
Comey’s next legal fight will turn on whether prosecutors can turn a social media post into a criminal threat case. If they cannot, the shell image remains political speech in the record; if they can, the post becomes the basis for a federal conviction under the statutes named in the indictment.
