James Comey surrenders to authorities after DoJ indictment
Last edited Wed Apr 29, 2026, 02:45 PM - Edit history (1)
Source: The Guardian
Wed 29 Apr 2026 14.35 EDT
First published on Wed 29 Apr 2026 13.15 EDT
James Comey made a brief appearance in court on Wednesday after the justice department indicted him over a social media post in a renewed bid to prosecute one of Donald Trumps longtime political adversaries. The former FBI director was indicted in North Carolina on Tuesday over a photograph he posted on social media last year of seashells arranged in the numbers 86 47 a message the justice department says amounts to a threat against Trump the 47th US president.
The indictment, made public on Tuesday, says that a reasonable person would interpret as a serious expression of an intent to do harm to the President of the United States. Comey responded in a video of himself speaking to the camera on his personal Substack the same day to declare: I am still innocent.
Well, theyre back, Comey said in the Tuesday video. This time, about a picture of seashells on a North Carolina beach a year ago. And this wont be the end of it, but nothing has changed with me. I am still innocent. I am still not afraid. And I still believe in the independent federal judiciary. So, lets go.
Comey has said he assumed the numbers reflected a political message, not a call to violence against the Republican president, and removed the post as soon as he saw some people were interpreting it that way. It never occurred to me, but I oppose violence of any kind so I took the post down, he wrote in a subsequent post on Instagram.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/apr/29/james-comey-second-indictment-surrender
Article updated.
Original article -
First published on Wed 29 Apr 2026 13.15 EDT
James Comey surrendered to authorities on Wednesday at the eastern district of Virginia after the justice department indicted him this week for a second time.
The former FBI director was indicted in North Carolina on Tuesday because of a post he made on social media last year of seashells arranged into the numbers 86 47 which the Department of Justice has called a threat against Donald Trump.
The number 86 can be used as shorthand for getting rid of something, and Trump is the 47th president.
Comey subsequently deleted the post and apologized, saying he didnt realize the numbers were associated with violence. It never occurred to me, but I oppose violence of any kind so I took the post down, he wrote on Instagram.
hlthe2b
(114,376 posts)So too, the indictment of a long-ago colleague/mentor (Dr. David Morens) on charges related to the RW attempt to blame Anthony Fauci and NIH for somehow funding a Chinese program to CREATE COVID-19 and covering the email trail (he used some personal email during that time). I was shocked to hear about all this yesterday, but it is all part and parcel of the Comey indictment and apparently several other vindictive ones coming soon. But, I am crestfallen (never get a chance to use that term, but it seems to fit).
relogic
(205 posts)we on the left must exercise in our words lest they be used by a Injustice Dept. against us because the sentiments we have are held to an impossible standard of restraint.
Hugin
(37,938 posts)Yes, I have had them too. I believe that his actions in 2016 came from an establishment Republican of the era (almost extinct now, I will add) His actions were a dirty trick in the election. He like all of them didnt want HRC so they were playing the gotcha game they had playing for thirty years. Bam! No HRC as president. Mission Accomplished. However, they were conned. Probably worse than any democrat. They thought they were getting another malleable W and business would continue.
They were so wrong. Very wrong. We tried to warn them too. They thought they knew better. That they could control Agent Orange and his kakiofascists.
Right now Comey is in the FO stage of a very stupid FA. I hope it was worth it.
ruet
(10,315 posts)Link to tweet
Jack Posobiec is a prominent American conservative political activist, social media influencer, and author known for his work as a senior editor at Human Events.
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2na fisherman
(347 posts)Comey may have been decorating the sand with shells to commemorate the date of the first Hiroshima Peace Festival. One of the speakers there said, "...revolution of thought is needed."
LetMyPeopleVote
(181,210 posts)I heard Miles discuss this on MS Now yesterday.
Link to tweet
https://www.defiance.news/p/theres-a-secret-reason-they-charged
Last fall, something truly unprecedented happened. And a teeny-tiny (yet crucial) detail casts a whole new light on whats happening right now with ex-FBI leader James Comey.
At 6:44 p.m. on Saturday, September 20th, the president of the United States posted a directive on Truth Social urging his Attorney General to accelerate the prosecution of his critics. That list included Comey. In less than a week, the Justice Department followed suit. Two felony charges were announced against Comey in a case that shocked the world.
Trump should have been pleased. But something happened that clearly infuriated him.
Not long after the charges were announced, news outlets revealed that an FBI agent declined to perp walk Comey in other words, to have him arrested in front of the cameras and taken to be fingerprinted and photographed. Higher-ups had requested large, beefy agents in full kit be recruited to go pick Comey up. Yet the agent reportedly found the instruction inappropriate, since Comey had only received a summons from the court and not an arrest warrant. As former U.S. Attorney Barb McQuade noted, it would have been a violation of DOJ policy to go seize Comey in dramatic fashion, given the circumstances.
Comey voluntarily went to the courthouse without spectacle.
For that, the FBI agent was promptly fired. In an expletive-laden social media post, FBI director Kash Patel didnt deny that the employee had been canned for refusing to perp walk the former director. Indeed, Patel seemed to use the episode as a warning:....
None of those conditions apply here. Comey isnt a flight risk; he showed up voluntarily at his last arraignment only seven months ago. And the suggestion that hes a danger to the public is laughable on its face. Nonetheless, an order to arrest him was sought by DOJ and sent to the U.S. Marshals, who are presumably working on how and when to carry it out. The obvious upshot of such a warrant is this: Comey will be publicly arrested, ceremoniously fingerprinted, and most crucially, placed in front of a camera for a mugshot.
After that, I suspect Donald Trump doesnt care whether DOJ wins or loses the case. He doesnt care that Comeys social media musings are quite obviously First Amendment protected speech, or even that his own allies have made similar posts against former presidents. What Donald Trump cares about is that hell get a mugshot of James Comey.
But it wont stop there. As Ive said for the past year, Trumps goal is to build a kaleidoscope. He wont cease his revenge campaign at least until hes secured arrest warrants and mugshots for as many of his foes as possible. He wants to create a montage of mugshots, in fact, much as was done to him and his henchmen.
truddy777
(122 posts)It is a strange situation when social media posts lead to these types of legal outcomes.
Skittles
(172,405 posts)I mean, seriously, this is RIDICULOUS.
twodogsbarking
(19,152 posts)hamsterjill
(17,709 posts)You probably already know this, but just in case - he only took a picture of the already arranged shells and shared that picture.
Today, we are ALL James Comey. If HIS right to express himself is abused, so will all of our rights to express ourselves be.
twodogsbarking
(19,152 posts)hamsterjill
(17,709 posts)I might have to report you!!!! You criminal, you!!! LOL
BaronChocula
(4,673 posts)I was never a registered republican. I'm happy Comey came around, but I stand with those who have a longer history of extending rights and not those who have routinely supported those who sought to restrict them. What's happening to Comey is a tragedy in the classic sense.
Just a friendly difference of opinion.
hamsterjill
(17,709 posts)Do we agree that Comey should not be charged for exerting his freedom of speech? Because of his rights are curtailed, then all our rights will suffer?
BaronChocula
(4,673 posts)I just don't prioritize sympathy for him given that his political allegiance throughout his adult life has been with a crowd whose goal has been to abrogate the rights of others.
A lot of folks are saying if it could happen to him it could happen to us. It's already been happening to us. People have actually been getting killed with impunity. All I have to say to James Comey is welcome to the club.
hamsterjill
(17,709 posts)I wasn't prioritizing sympathy for Comey, specifically. I was addressing "vindictive prosecutions" as you indicate.
MY take is that IF it can happen to Comey, it can damn sure happen to any one of us AND more of us. Most of us do not wield the power or influence that even Comey might still have in some circles. So, if Trump can cause Comey grief and inconvenience, imagine what he can do to regular people.
I do see your point.
Thanks for the exchange. Have a great evening.
BaronChocula
(4,673 posts)angrychair
(12,424 posts)This is hardly an implied or explicit threat.
This is like being arrested for saying "we need to get rid of person "x" and trying to say that is a threat against them. How this even got through a grand jury is a little shocking
johnnyfins
(3,917 posts)Pic of Biden chained in the back of a pickup?
Wednesdays
(22,951 posts)Remind me again, how many days in jail did the 34-count Felon serve?
twodogsbarking
(19,152 posts)Adeptus2272
(9 posts)
maxsolomon
(39,000 posts)They'd indict a ham sandwich.
MorbidButterflyTat
(4,689 posts)By federal agents in Alaska.
Go figure.
Talitha
(8,113 posts)'Deep 6' is the reference to murdering someone.
BTW, does anyone remember that comedian Kathy something or another? She'd posted a picture of her holding a severed head meant to look like Dump. IIRC all she got was a slap on the wrist.
whathehell
(30,526 posts)by the cooks to tell the wait staff that they've run out of a menu item, i.e. "The Crab Special is 86".
bmichaelh
(1,234 posts)Despite what Trump says, an experienced Mafia prosecutor says "86" is not a Mafia term.
It does not appear in Godfather, Goodfellas, or The Sopranos.
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-comey-2676832751/
Bayard
(30,066 posts)trump is looking for any little thing as an excuse to go after his, "enemies." Who's next? Presidents Obama and Biden? VP Harris? Hillary Clinton? They've all said MEAN things about him.
I would not put anything past his infantile ego and revenge crusade.