Former FBI Director James Comey has been indicted on charges that he threatened President Donald Trump in an Instagram post. File Photo by Dennis Van Tine/UPI | License Photo
Former FBI Director James Comey was indicted Tuesday on charges related to an alleged threat made against President Donald Trump last year, the latest criminal case brought by the Justice Department against one of the president’s perceived political opponents.
The two-count indictment from a federal grand jury in North Carolina charges Comey with knowingly and willfully making a threat to take the life of the president and sending a communication in interstate commerce that contained a threat to injure a person. Each charge carries a maximum prison sentence of 10 years.
The charges stem from an image that Comey posted to Instagram on May 15 of seashells in an “8647” configuration on a beach.
The term “86” is slang for canceling, dismissing or getting rid of something, and Trump’s second term makes him the 47th president. The phrase “8647” can be found on anti-Trump stickers and buttons.
In a video statement, Comey rejected the charges.
“I’m still innocent, I’m still not afraid and I still believe in the independent federal judiciary, so let’s go,” he said.
“But it’s really important that all oof us remember this is not whoo we are as a country, this is not how the department of Justice is supposed to be and the good news is we get closure every day to restoring those values.”
It is the second time the Justice Department has targeted Comey, after the first indictment accusing him of making false statements to the Senate was dismissed in November without prejudice.
“I think it’s fair to say that threatening the life of anybody is dangerous and potentially a crime. Threatening the life of the president of the United States will never be tolerated by the Department of Justice,” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told reporters in a press conference Tuesday.
Blanche compared the case to others recently pursued by the Justice Department as he defended the charges brought against Comey, describing the allegations as “the same kind of conduct that we will never tolerate and that we will always investigate and regularly prosecute.”
U.S. Attorney Ellis Boyle for the Eastern District of North Carolina added that Comey will be given “every form of due process” afforded to all U.S. citizens.
The Justice Department previously investigated the post but dropped the matter before reviving it ahead of Tuesday’s indictment.
The Trump administration announced an investigation into the message a day after it was posted as Trump accused Comey of “calling for the assassination of the president.”
Comey, who deleted the image, denied he was threatening the president, writing in a follow-up post, “I didn’t realize some folks associate those numbers with violence.”
He said he deleted it because “I oppose violence of any kind.”
After the post, the Secret Service questioned Comey for hours in Washington, D.C. Comey told them he had seen the shells on a beach in North Carolina.
National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard told Fox News that Comey should be “put behind bars for this” and that she was “very concerned” for Trump’s life.
It was the second time Comey had been indicted since Trump took office last year. In November, a case against him was dismissed because the appointment of interim U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan, who was prosecuting the case, was “invalid.”
As with the previous indictment, the one announced Tuesday is being derided by Trump administration critics and Democrats as political persecution. Comey has long been a target of Trump’s anger after the FBI, under Comey’s leadership, investigated Russian interference in the 2016 election, which Trump won.
“Trump’s perverse attempts to abuse the justice system are on display yet again with this pathetic, second indictment of Jim Comey,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in an online statement.
“Just like last time, he will fail.”
Some Democrats accused Blanche of trying to secure the nomination to be the next attorney general.
“The indictment against James Comey is absurd,” Rep. James Walkinshaw, D-Va., said in a statement.
“It’s destined to fail.”
Trump campaigned on seeking retribution against his perceived political opponents, and has been repeatedly accused of using the federal government, including the Justice Department, to target them via executive orders and charges.
The Justice Department is again seeking to prosecute New York Attorney General Letitia James over alleged mortgage fraud after the first case it brought against her was thrown out.
Federal prosecutors also failed to indict six Democratic lawmakers, former uniformed service members and members of the intelligence community, over a video they made telling members of the U.S. military that they must reject illegal orders, though the Pentagon has sanctioned one of them, Sen. Mark Kelly.
Comey’s daughter, Maurene Comey, a former Manhattan federal prosecutor, was fired by the Justice Department last year without explanation. She is suing the department.
This week in Washington
Britain’s King Charles III delivers an address to a joint meeting of Congress at the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday. The king and Queen Camilla are on a four-day state visit to the U.S. with stops in Washington and New York. Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo
