Comey turned himself in on two charges, including threatening the life of the U.S. president and communicating threats across state lines.
Published April 29, 2026
Former FBI Director James Comey appeared in federal court in Virginia a day after he was indicted over social media posts that prosecutors say threatened U.S. President Donald Trump.
Comey appeared in court Wednesday on two charges, including threatening the president’s life and communicating threats across U.S. state lines.
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The former FBI director did not speak during the brief court appearance. His lawyer, Patrick Fitzgerald, said he would argue the lawsuit was a retaliatory prosecution, meaning it was brought to punish Comey for exercising his legal rights.
Comey, wearing a dark suit and entering the courtroom through a side door typically used by defendants, declined to comment.
A U.S. magistrate judge ordered Comey’s release but did not impose any special conditions.
His next court appearance is scheduled for North Carolina, where a federal grand jury returned the indictment on Tuesday. His family arrived just before the proceedings began.
Mr. Comey denies the charges and says he intends to fight the charges.
The indictment marks a new effort by the Trump Justice Department to bring criminal charges against people it considers the president’s political opponents. President Trump mentioned Comey by name in a social media post last year and called for criminal charges against his opponent.
“8647” post in the center of the case
The lawsuit centers on an Instagram post Comey shared last May that showed seashells arranged to form the number 8647.
Trump and his supporters claim the numbers amount to a coded call for violence against the president. The number 47 is widely understood to refer to Trump, who returned to office in January 2025 as the 47th president of the United States.
This controversy hinges on the meaning of “86.”
In US slang, the term means to remove or discard something, and is often used in restaurants when an item is no longer available. Some critics have argued that it may imply violent exclusion, but that interpretation is debated.
Comey said at the time that he did not intend the post to be threatening. Following the backlash, he deleted the image and said on Instagram that he “didn’t realize that some people would associate these numbers with violence” and that he opposed violence “of any kind.”
But prosecutors argue that a “reasonable recipient” familiar with the context would interpret the image as “an expression of serious intent to harm” the president.
According to the indictment, Comey faces two federal charges. One charge is presidential intimidation under U.S. law that prohibits threats against heads of state, and the other is sending threatening communications in interstate commerce.
Each charge carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison, a fine, or both.
