Former FBI director James Comey has been indicted on two counts related to a photo posted on social media nearly a year ago. The beach snapshot featured seashells arranged into a sequence of numbers: 8-6-4-7. According to officials, the pattern constituted a threat against President Donald Trump. Critics interpreted the numbers as a veiled call for the assassination of the head of state.
The indictment alleges that Mr. Comey willfully and knowingly threatened to take the life of and cause bodily harm to President Trump, and that he disseminated the threats using interstate commerce channels. Comey himself took down the post shortly after it went up, stating he had not foreseen the numbers being read as an incitement to violence. He explained that he saw the digits as carrying purely political overtones and emphasized his longstanding opposition to any form of violence.
This criminal case is the second brought against Comey in the past several months. The previous one was dropped last November. Some observers see the latest charge as part of the Trump administration’s Justice Department effort to pursue criminal cases against individuals viewed as political opponents of the president.
Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, US Attorney General Todd Blanche played down the case as nothing more than a routine prosecution over a threat made against a public official.