Former FBI Director James Comey indicted in Wilmington over alleged threats against President Trump
WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — Former FBI Director James Comey has been indicted in federal court in North Carolina on charges accusing him of making threats against President Donald Trump through a social media post that prosecutors say referenced killing the president.
The indictment was filed Tuesday in the Eastern District of North Carolina at the Alton Lennon Federal Building in Wilmington, according to federal officials.
The charges stem from a social media post that Comey made in May 2025, which has since been deleted. The post showed the numbers “86” and “47” arranged in seashells on a beach.
In slang, “86” can mean to get rid of something, while investigators say “47” referred to Trump as the 47th president.
U.S. Attorney W. Ellis Boyle said Comey was charged with knowingly and willfully making a threat to kill or inflict bodily harm on the president.
“He knowingly and willfully made a threat to kill and to inflict bodily harm upon the President of the United States,” Boyle said at a news conference held by the DOJ Tuesday afternoon. He added that a second count alleges Comey “knowingly and willfully transmitted in interstate and foreign commerce, a communication that contained a threat to kill President Trump.”
Comey responded with fighting words after the indictment was announced.
“This won’t be the end of it, but nothing has changed with me, I’m still not innocent, I’m still not afraid, and I still believe in the independent federal judiciary, so let’s go,” Comey said on his Substack.
Comey previously faced a separate federal indictment last September on charges of making false statements to Congress and obstructing a congressional proceeding. Those charges were tied to his 2020 testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee regarding the FBI’s investigation into alleged Russian ties to Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. The charges were dismissed in November.
This new indictment comes just days after an apparent assassination attempt targeting Trump and members of his administration during the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
Acting US Attorney General Todd Blanche said any threats against the president would not be tolerated.
“You are not allowed to threaten the president of the United States of America,” Blanche said. “That’s not my decision. That’s Congress’s decision in a statute that they passed that we charge multiple times a year.”
But what could a James Comey defense look like?
“The fact he’s been indicted? That just means a grand jury found probable cause,” said Thom Goolsby, a Wilmington-based attorney. “That’s not proof beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Goolsby added that a recent Supreme Court ruling may strengthen Comey’s defense.
“The immediate defense is a 2023 case where the Supreme Court ruled that you have to have subjective recklessness as the burden here, which is going to be very difficult for the US government to prove. Comey said he didn’t know what it meant, you got to prove that he did know what it meant or he was subjectively reckless, not an objective requirement as the law had before.”
If convicted, Comey faces up to 10 years in prison on each of the two charges.
