Former FBI Director James Comey just got indicted because the DOJ says his Instagram photo of seashells on a beach is a threat against Donald Trump

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has indicted former FBI Director James Comey over an Instagram photo of seashells that officials claim is a threat against President Donald Trump. This is the second time the DOJ has tried to prosecute Comey, and it marks a fresh push by the administration to go after Trump’s critics.

According to CNN, Comey is charged with making a threat against the president and transmitting a threat in interstate commerce. The indictment comes from a photo Comey posted on Instagram last May, which showed seashells on a beach spelling out the numbers “86 47.” Comey wrote in the caption, “Cool shell formation on my beach walk.”

Republicans and administration officials quickly called it a death threat. The number 86 can often mean getting rid of something, while 47 refers to Trump’s current term as the 47th president. Comey responded in a video posted to his Substack account, saying, “I’m still innocent. I’m still not afraid. And I still believe in the independent federal judiciary, so let’s go.”

Legal experts are deeply skeptical that this prosecution will hold up in court

This case is likely to be very difficult for prosecutors, as the charges require proof that Comey “knowingly and willfully” made a threat to “take the life of” the president. Former prosecutors and First Amendment scholars doubt the case will succeed. Eugene Volokh, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, told CNN, “This is not going anywhere. This is clearly not a punishable threat.”

Comey’s defense team is likely to challenge the indictment on First Amendment grounds. Whether the social media post counted as a “true threat” is something courts can review on their own, before it ever reaches a jury. Mary Anne Franks, a George Washington University Law professor, said Comey’s social media post is “a very ambiguous statement at best.”

The case against Comey is the second attempt by Trump’s Justice Department to convict the former director, who became a strong critic of the president after Trump fired him in 2017 over the Russia investigation. Last September, the DOJ first charged Comey with lying to Congress over leaks to the press. That case was dismissed late last year by a federal judge who found the interim US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia had been improperly appointed.

The new indictment comes as Todd Blanche, a former Trump personal attorney and now the top deputy to Attorney General Pam Bondi, is steering the department. Blanche has moved quickly on matters that Trump has publicly pushed for.

Trump has also publicly denied ordering any attacks on Comey and others, though his own explanation raised further questions. Notably, Trump called on Bondi in late September on Truth Social to bring charges against Comey and Democratic Senator Adam Schiff, not long before the DOJ indicted both of them.

According to The Guardian, Philip Lacovara, a former counsel to the Watergate special prosecutor, said, “The overt and explicit ‘weaponization’ of the justice department … is the worst type of corruption of the rule of law.” Separately, Comey’s daughter Maurene, a former federal prosecutor in New York, is continuing her own lawsuit against the DOJ, alleging she was fired as punishment for being the former FBI director’s daughter. She is seeking back pay and legal fees. All of this is unfolding against a broader backdrop of tension around Trump’s personal security, after shots were fired near Trump at the correspondents’ dinner, forcing him to be rushed out of the event.