Comey indicted again over Instagram post seen as threat to Trump

Former FBI Director James Comey has been indicted for the second time by President Donald Trump's Justice Department, according to multiple news outlets. The specific charges stem from an Instagram post he shared last year showing seashells arranged in the sand to form the numbers "86 47," which was interpreted as a threat against Trump, the nation's 47th president. The number "86" is slang for eliminating or removing something. Comey was interviewed by Secret Service agents about the post and subsequently deleted it, explaining in a follow-up post that he did not realize some people would associate those numbers with violence but that he opposes any form of violence. Sources told CBS News that Comey was indicted in the Eastern District of North Carolina. The Justice Department previously indicted Comey last year on charges that he lied to Congress during testimony in September 2020 and obstructed a congressional proceeding related to his investigations into Trump's 2016 campaign and Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server. That case was dismissed in November when a federal judge ruled that Lindsey Halligan, the top prosecutor who secured the original indictments, had been unlawfully appointed to her position in the Eastern District of Virginia. The Justice Department appealed that decision, and Halligan departed from the Justice Department in January. Comey had sought to dismiss those charges on grounds that his prosecution was vindictive, with his lawyers arguing that Trump had ordered prosecutors to charge him out of personal spite. Trump has maintained ongoing hostility toward Comey since firing him from the FBI in 2017 during his first term, and conservative allies had called for the former FBI director to be prosecuted. In a September post to Truth Social, Trump urged then-Attorney General Pam Bondi to take action against Comey, along with New York Attorney General Letitia James and California Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff. Bondi was ousted earlier this month and replaced by her deputy Todd Blanche as acting attorney general. Comey has not yet commented on the new indictment, and it remains unclear what specific charges have been filed against him in this latest case.