Its Not Just the Instagram Post

Former FBI Director James Comey was indicted — for a second time — last Tuesday. This time, it was for his notorious May 2025 Instagram post of seashells on the seaside, curiously organized to spell out “86 47.” 

But it is not just the Instagram post at issue right here, as Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche informed Kristen Welker on NBC News’ “Meet the Press” on Sunday morning. 

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Blanche made clear this goes past the image itself:

.@DAGToddBlanche: The profession Assistant U.S. Attorneys in North Carolina, the profession FBI brokers, the profession Secret Service brokers that investigated this case did not just look at the Instagram post and stroll away…it is not just an Instagram post that leads someone to get indicted. pic.twitter.com/hBoXkMFuFZ

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) May 3, 2026

WELKER: Let’s transfer on to former FBI Director James Comey. A grand jury has indicted the former FBI director for this Instagram post. I wanna put it up; I feel a lot of of us have seen at this level: 8647 in seashells, which the indictment says, quote, “a reasonable recipient who is familiar with the circumstances would interpret as a serious expression of an intent to do harm to the President of the United States.” 

How does that image of seashells quantity to a critical risk against the president’s life?

BLANCHE: Well, every case requires an investigation, and what you just confirmed is one half of that investigation. What you just confirmed is the Instagram post. 

Rest assured that the profession Assistant United States Attorneys in North Carolina, the profession FBI brokers, the profession Secret Service brokers that investigated this case did not just look at the Instagram post and stroll away. 

That’s why you noticed an indictment last week, however the fact that it was last May that the post was made. So I’m not permitted to get into particulars of what the grand jury heard or discovered, as you already know, but relaxation assured that it is not just the Instagram post that leads someone to get indicted.

Comey, of course, was beforehand indicted in the Eastern District of Virginia for making a false assertion to Congress and for obstructing a congressional continuing (in connection with his September 2020 testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee relating to the Russia Collusion hoax). That indictment was later dismissed without prejudice after Lindsey Halligan’s appointment as U.S. Attorney for that district was held to be illegal. (That dismissal is at present up on appeal.) 

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News of the second indictment in connection with the IG post prompted critics to query whether or not this was primarily political retaliation, and others to level to potential First Amendment points that might serve as a protection to the latest costs. 

However, as Blanche notes in response to Welker right here, the matter has been under investigation for close to a yr, and we do not actually know the scope of the evidence introduced to the grand jury that returned the indictment.

That suggests there’s more to this story than initially meets the eye. 

Editor’s Note: President Trump is main America into the “Golden Age” as Democrats strive desperately to stop it.  

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