Former FBI Director James Comey has been indicted on federal charges after posting an image of seashells arranged to spell “8647” on Instagram, in a case that has raised concerns about the use of the United States justice system as a form of political retaliation.

The charges were announced on Tuesday, with prosecutors accusing Comey of threatening US President Donald Trump and transmitting a threat in interstate commerce.

The case comes amid heightened political tensions in Washington after an armed suspect managed to get close to a ballroom in the hotel where Trump was attending the White House Correspondents’ Association gala dinner on Saturday evening.

Trump has long called for prosecuting his political opponents and has set his sights, in particular, on Comey, who oversaw the early days of an investigation into whether Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign had coordinated with Russia.

Trump allies have blamed Democrats for fuelling hostility against the president through the use of heated political rhetoric.

What are the charges?

A federal grand jury has indicted Comey in the US state of North Carolina. He is accused of knowingly threatening the president and transmitting a threat in interstate commerce by posting the “8647” image on the social media platform Instagram in May last year.

Tuesday’s indictment came after an earlier Department of Justice criminal case against Comey fell apart last year.

The charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, according to acting US Attorney General Todd Blanche, although sentences in such cases are often lower.

Federal prosecutors have also obtained an arrest warrant for Comey, who has denied wrongdoing.

In a video posted on Substack titled “Seashells”, he said: “I’m still innocent, I’m still not afraid, and I still believe in the independent federal judiciary.”

His lawyer, Patrick Fitzgerald, said Comey would fight the charges and defend his constitutional rights in court.

What does ‘8647’ mean?

The case centres on an Instagram post Comey shared in May last year showing seashells arranged to form the number “8647”.

Trump and his supporters claim the numbers are a coded call for violence against the president.

The number 47 is commonly understood to refer to Trump, who became the 47th US president after returning to office in January 2025.

The dispute focuses on the meaning of “86”.

In US slang, “86” can mean to remove, reject or throw something out. It has long been used in restaurants when an item is unavailable or taken off the menu.

Some critics of Comey’s post claim the number can also imply getting rid of something or someone violently, though that interpretation is disputed. Comey said at the time that he did not intend the post as a threat.

He later deleted it, writing that he had not realised some people associated the numbers with violence and that he opposed violence “of any kind”.

Why is this case politically significant?

Comey has been one of Trump’s most prominent adversaries for years.

As director of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from 2013 to 2017, Comey oversaw investigations that angered both Democrats and Republicans during the 2016 election cycle. Trump later fired him in 2017, a move that triggered major political fallout and scrutiny over whether the dismissal was linked to the FBI’s investigation into whether Russia had interfered with the 2016 presidential election, which Comey was overseeing.

After Comey was dismissed, Special Counsel Robert Mueller took over the Russia investigation.

The investigation lasted nearly two years and found that Russia had made major efforts to sway the 2016 election. Ultimately, it did not prove there was any criminal conspiracy involving Trump or his team, but the case hung over Trump for years, and he condemned it as a “witch-hunt”.

Since returning to office, Trump has repeatedly accused political opponents and former officials of wrongdoing, while promising to dismantle what he calls the “deep state”.

Critics say the latest case against Comey fits a broader pattern of targeting perceived political enemies.

Trump had publicly urged the Department of Justice to take action against Comey and other rivals, including New York Attorney General Letitia James and US Senator Adam Schiff.

Have there been previous cases against Comey?

Yes.

This is the second time Comey has been indicted since Trump began his second term.

Several months after the seashell controversy, Comey was charged in Virginia with making false statements to Congress and obstruction. That case focused specifically on whether he had lied to senators during his 2020 testimony about the Russia investigation to the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2020.

He denied those accusations. That case was later dismissed by a federal judge, who ruled that the prosecutor overseeing it had not been lawfully appointed. The earlier collapse has added scrutiny to the latest prosecution.

What happens next?

Comey’s case has been assigned to US District Judge Louise Flanagan in North Carolina.

He is expected to challenge the indictment and argue that the Instagram post was protected speech rather than a genuine threat.

Legal experts say the central question will be whether prosecutors can prove that Comey intended to threaten the president, rather than to post a political message open to interpretation.

The outcome could have implications beyond Comey himself, raising fresh questions about free speech, prosecutorial independence, and the boundaries of political expression in the United States.