Former FBI director James Comey has been indicted for threatening the life of US President Donald Trump, officials said on Tuesday, five months after a previous case against him was thrown out.
The indictment by a grand jury in North Carolina stems from an Instagram post the 65-year-old Comey made in May last year that showed the numbers “86 47” spelled out in seashells.
Trump said in an interview with Fox News at the time that “86” was slang for kill and “47” was a reference to his being the 47th US president.
Photo: EPA
“He knew exactly what that meant,” Trump said. “That meant assassination.”
Comey vowed to fight the charges.
“Well, they’re back this time about a picture of seashells on a North Carolina beach a year ago, and this won’t be the end of it,” Comey said in a video statement posted on social media. “I’m still innocent, I’m still not afraid, and I still believe in the independent federal judiciary, so let’s go.”
The indictment alleges the “86 47” reference in the seashell pattern was a “serious expression of an intent to do harm to the president of the United States.”
Acting US Attorney General Todd Blanche said that Comey faces one count of “willfully making a threat to take the life of and to inflict bodily harm upon the president of the United States” and another of making an interstate threat.
Each charge has a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.
“I think it’s fair to say that threatening the life of anybody is dangerous and potentially a crime,” Blanche said. “Threatening the life of the president of the United States will never be tolerated by the [US] Department of Justice.”
Comey apologized at the time for the Instagram post and said he “didn’t realize some folks associate those numbers with violence.”
“It never occurred to me, but I oppose violence of any kind so I took the post down,” he said.
Comey’s indictment comes three days after a gunman was arrested for allegedly attempting to assassinate Trump during a Washington dinner hosted by the White House Correspondents’ Association.
Comey was charged in September with making false statements to the US Congress and obstructing a congressional proceeding.
A federal judge threw out the case on the grounds the US attorney handpicked by Trump who brought the charges was unlawfully appointed.
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