Is it plausible that James Comey, a former federal prosecutor, deputy attorney general, and FBI director, publicly threatened to murder President Donald Trump? No, it is not. But that is what W. Ellis Boyle, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina, claims in an indictment filed on April 28.
That improbable allegation is based on a picture that Comey posted on Instagram in May 2025 while vacationing in North Carolina. Captioned "cool shell formation on my beach walk," the photograph showed seashells arranged in the sand to form the message "86 47." According to the indictment, those four digits constituted two federal felonies, each punishable by up to five years in prison. The charges include one count under 18 USC 871, which applies to someone who "knowingly and willfully" threatens to "take the life of" or "inflict bodily harm upon" the president, and one count under 18 USC 875(c), which criminalizes interstate communications that threaten to "injure the person of another."
