Former FBI director Comey surrenders to authorities
By Easton Martin | April 29, 2026
James Comey, the former director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, surrendered to federal authorities on Wednesday morning following an indictment in the Eastern District of North Carolina. The charges involve a social media post from May 2025 that prosecutors claim constitutes a criminal threat against President Donald Trump.
The indictment includes two felony counts. The first involves making a threat against the president in violation of federal law. The second concerns transmitting that threat across state lines via social media. The evidence centers on a photograph Comey shared on Instagram depicting seashells arranged to form the numbers 86 47.
The Justice Department argues that these numbers are far from accidental. In various contexts, 86 serves as shorthand for the removal or elimination of a target. The number 47 identifies the current president. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche stated that the government treats such messaging as a serious expression of an intent to do harm.
There is a deep absurdity in a former FBI director engaging in this type of behavior.
For a person of his FBI background to post such a clear anti-president message and then plead ignorance is difficult to accept. It suggests either a total collapse of professional judgment or a deliberate attempt to use his platform for political provocation. The idea that a top law enforcement official would participate in this kind of digital signaling is just absurd, but appears to be the case. It contradicts the image of the sober, non-partisan institutionalist that Comey has long sought to convince people that he is.
